Day 244 - 03 May 96 - Page 17
1 McDonald's, the Home Grown Wheat Authority (op cit) has
2 reported that pesticide residues can 'bind' to substances
3 like potatoes and flour and, in that state, cannot be
4 readily detected. Therefore, finding as to residues in
5 these products were likely to have been under-stated.
6
7 Additionally, it should be recognised that sampling was
8 confined to a limited number of pesticide. Out of 400
9 pesticides cleared for use, only 20 were tested routinely.
10 Thus, testing was not carried out for 95 per cent of
11 permitted pesticides. It would defy logic to assume that
12 only tested products left residues so, again, it is likely
13 that the figures for pesticide residues are under-stated on
14 this account.
15
16 From my own personal knowledge of the meat industry" -- can
17 I ask you a question there: The residue limits that the
18 MAFF set, have they changed since this case started, do you
19 know?
20 A. To my recollection on some products, yes.
21
22 Q. Right:
23
24 "From my own personal knowledge of the meat industry and
25 the conduct of routine" -- when you say they have changed,
26 do you mean they go up or go down as a minimum allowable
27 residue limit?
28 A. You are talking about a very wide range: Some go up,
29 some go down. I remember the carrots last year. As a
30 result of findings, they were lowered and generally the
31 drift is downwards. It is relatively rare to see permitted
32 residue levels go up.
33
34 Q. Going back to reading the statement:
35
36 "From my own personal knowledge of the meat industry and
37 the conduct of routine pesticide residue surveyors - and my
38 knowledge of the behaviour of OP pesticides - I also know
39 that the protocols used to detect OPs are faulty in that
40 the main site used to sample in animal carcasses is kidney
41 fat. However, a significant number of OP formulations are
42 not lipid soluble and do not accumulate in fats, and
43 specifically not kidney fats which have the lowest turnover
44 of fats in the mammalian system.
45
46 OPs, to my knowledge, have a predilection for accumulating
47 in nervous tissue- which is to be expected as their
48 designated mode of action is to attack nervous systems?
49 A. I can add here that the molecules were originally
50 developed as pesticides, and they were found by German
51 chemists just prior to the Second World War, and the mode
52 of attack was found to be different from those of the
53 organochlorines and others from which molecule/molecular
54 group would develop the nerve gasses such as Sarin, so the
55 conventional testing which looks for poisons which have a
56 different mode of attack will not find molecules which are
57 specifically designed to be attracted to the nervous tissue
58 and to work therein. So, it really is quite significant
59 that the dear old Ministry is undertaking a regime of
60 pesticide testing looking at kidney fats, which is where
