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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Mr. Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to publish the report of the epidemiological study of organophosphate victims by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine commissioned by her Department; and if she will make a statement. [191318] Mr. Bradshaw: [holding answer 18 October 2004]: The hon. Member for North Cornwall is aware that the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was contracted to carry out this study and to submit its draft final report for this work in August 2003. As described in my answer to the hon. Member's previous question, given on 20 July 2004, Official Report, column 124W, we received a preliminary draft report of the findings from this study on 13 July 2004. As is usual before publication of any scientific report, this was submitted to a panel of independent experts for peer review. Comments received from this panel were forwarded to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on 21 September 2004. The LSHTM has been invited to consider and respond to the issues raised and to address them in its final report. We hope that this process will be complete by the end of October. Once we are in receipt of this final report, and are satisfied that it adequately addresses the issues raised by the independent peer reviewers, we will publish it without delay. Separate to the peer review process, we understand that Professor Kerry Mills from King's College Hospital has recently met with the contractors to begin his assessment of the validity of the clinical phase of the study. We will be guided by Professor Mills' advice on whether the clinical study should be fully audited before it is published. However, depending on the time scale of this process, we may need to publish the clinical study separately.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c560W; 191318

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Health hazards Pesticides Victims Research Organophosphates Epidemiology

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk