Richard Bruce: the system protects itself and doesn’t care a jot for the health of the population

Richard wrote after hearing Prime Minister’s Questions on January 10^th, which focussed on the injustices suffered by the Post Office workers.

He was seriously affected by organophosphate poisoning while working as a farm manager many years ago and now spends time raising awareness about the dangers that can be presented by organophosphate pesticide exposure, and how difficult it can be to seek medical treatment after the fact (Technology Networks). He writes:

The reality is that when the public come knocking on the doors of this Chamber seeking justice the Government only ever answers when they have no options left.

The leader of the Opposition said last week that the public are right to be angry at Westminster and they are angry at Westminster. They are angry at Westminster because they know that this place never really changes.

Just ask the WASPI women or the victims of the Equitable Life scandal or the victims of the infected blood scandal or the victim’s families from Grenfell or Hillsborough,

To that list we could add cases involving Asbestos, Thalidomide, Gulf War Syndrome, Aerotoxic Syndrome, OP poisoning, Covid, Vaccine damage, breast and mesh implants, pesticides, radiation, fluoride, mercury, lead, sewage pollution and many more.

Always the system protects itself and cares not a jot for the health of the population. 

They test sewage to determine the presence of Covid yet allow people to swim in it.

The World Health Organisation confirms that millions have been harmed by organophosphates alone and yet the avoidable suffering continues year on year as known risks are officially denied here in the UK, even in people scientifically diagnosed as having been poisoned.

They are denied the correct diagnosis, antidotes and correct treatments and they too have faced gross deception deliberately designed to defraud them and prevent access to justice. Yet still nothing is done to stop the unlawful abuse of the rights of vulnerable people.

 

 

 

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Are the HSE and the FSA now monitoring food safety as they should?

Richard Bruce writes: ”The problem is that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is not doing what it was designed to do when set up after the BSE crisis. There is much talk of traceability “From Farm to Fork”, but as with most of these slogans it simply isn’t true”.

He continues: “If it were true then the 2013 Horse Meat Scandal would never have occurred – but the meat reached the supermarket shelves – and consumers. Even though drugs that can be used on horses cannot be used in meat animals, officials claimed there was no risk to human health”.

Locally a farmer was fined some £220,000 for no less than 11 breaches of pesticide regulation, many years ago. Those breaches included the use of illegal pesticides, the keeping of false records and of ignoring post-treatment pre-harvest intervals. Richard Bruce points out: “It should be noted that no HSE investigation and no residue testing discovered these problems and the ”systematic abuse of pesticides” only came to light when two former employees, Leonard Oatley and Peter Kingswell, decided to act as whistle-blowers and reported the true records to the supermarkets.

Though the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had attended a meeting of local villagers who claimed to have been harmed by those pesticides it stated on numerous occasions that they had investigated and found nothing wrong. A Birmingham Post article reported:

“Workers had complained of headaches and skin rashes after the harvesting and Mr Nsugbe (Health and Safety Executive) said there was little doubt that the sweetcorn had entered the human food chain.

“Reading from a report by toxicology experts, Mr Nsugbe said the spraying posed an unacceptable risk to growers and pickers. In a worst-case scenario, “undesirable levels of pesticide residues” could have been left on the corn when it went to the supermarkets, he said, but the risk to consumers was not thought to be significant. Though he said serious health effects were not anticipated for consumers, he admitted that the long-term health risks of exposure to organophosphates (OPs) was still not known”.

After an earlier meeting of villagers with the HSE, Richard did a telephone interview with the BBC for the first edition of their Tomorrow’s World Magazine covering the OPs in our food – it was published and can be read here.

He comments that no one mentioned that the Food Standards Agency, the regulatory system, failed to discover those pesticide residues and links to all illnesses, including deaths, were denied. It was noted on another website however that easier targets appear to be treated with comparative severity by the FSA.

A number of people, both employees and others, complained of ill health as a result of the activities of the farm and a question was asked in the House of Lords. Lord Whitty, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions said:

Both before the prosecution and afterwards a number of people, both employees and others, complained of ill health as a result of the activities of the farm.

It is a matter of HSE policy that all allegations of ill health as a result of pesticide exposure are fully investigated. For each investigation a report is submitted to the Pesticide Incident Appraisal Panel (PIAP) for consideration. The Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS) plays a key role in this.

In accordance with HSE’s policy, each complaint relating to alleged ill health due to pesticide misuse at Mersley Farm, including those made since the prosecution, has been investigated. The majority of the complaints have been completed and submitted to PIAP. Some more recent complaints are still under investigation.

Richard Bruce reflects: “Forgotten are the sick villagers and those who died following their exposures. One villager and his dog, one worker and reports of one young boy who ate his sweetcorn every day”.

Twenty years after the serious case of breaches of pesticide regulation, is the health of farm workers and the general public now protected by a rigorous testing and investigatory regime?

 

 

 

 

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Agrichemical industry resists OP pesticides ban proposed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

In January EcoWatch reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its first nationwide assessments of the effects of three pesticides, all organophosphates, on endangered species. It found that 97% of 1,800 animals and plants protected under the Endangered Species Act are likely to be harmed by malathion and chlorpyrifos, two commonly used pesticides. The World Health Organization last year announced that malathion and diazinon are probable carcinogens.

Another 78% are likely to be hurt by the pesticide diazinon. The results are the final biological evaluations the EPA completed as part of its examination of the impacts of these pesticides on endangered species. (See April draft here).

The three pesticides are all organophosphates, a class of insecticides which researchers at the University of California at Berkeley found in 87% of human umbilical-cord samples.

In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to ban chlorpyrifos, a widely used insecticide sprayed on a variety of crops including oranges, apples, cherries, grapes, broccoli and asparagus. The pesticide, in use since 1965, was linked to illnesses among farm workers and neurodevelopmental problems in children. However, Dow AgroSciences and others in the agrichemical industry successfully resisted the proposal.

EcoWatch reports that Chemical & Engineering News (paywall) states the EPA is under a court order to make a determination about the use of chlorpyrifos by March 31 — about a decade after the agency initially failed to respond to a petition raising concerns about the chemical from environmental advocates.

Following these final evaluations from the EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service will issue final biological opinions to identify mitigation measures and changes to pesticide use by December 2017 to help to ensure that chlorpyrifos, malathion and diazinon will no longer potentially harm any endangered species in the U.S. when used on agricultural crops.

“We’re now getting a much more complete picture of the risks that pesticides pose to wildlife at the brink of extinction, including birds, frogs, fish and plants,” said Nathan Donley, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity:

“The next step will hopefully be some commonsense measures to help protect them along with our water supplies and public health.”

 

 

 

 

House of Commons meeting on the health impact of organophosphates

Forthcoming organophosphates meeting: Wednesday 14th May, 2.00pm – 3.30pm, Committee Room 9

You are invited to a meeting on the health impact of organophosphates to be held at the House of Commons. Issues to be discussed include:

• Have sheep dipping caused long-term damage to health?
• Were the products safe?
• Were the warnings adequate?

The meeting will be held on Wednesday May 14th in Committee Room 9, Palace of Westminster 14.00 – 15.30.

It will be chaired by Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, with introduction by the Countess of Mar and speakers will include experts in toxicology, such as Dr Sarah Mackenzie Ross.

 Use Cromwell Green entrance

RSVP tom.rigby2@btopenworld.com – 01942 671020

Tom adds: on the day only, mobile: 07833 764015 – any problems give me a call.

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A disturbing lack of official information in the public domain about organophosphates

The subject of hyperactive children, once more in the headlines, recalls the research finding which supports the hypothesis that organophosphate exposure, at levels common among US children, is a factor and warrants further research.

An email message from Peter Evans, Chairman of the OP Action Group North West, included a reflection on the recent research into neurobehavioral problems following low-level exposure to organophosphate pesticides, led by Dr Sarah Mackenzie Ross, a consultant clinical neuropsychologist & honorary senior lecturer at University College London – see the UCL post. Its findings were published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology and the abstract said:

“The majority of well designed studies found a significant association between low-level exposure to OPs and impaired neurobehavioral function which is consistent, small to moderate in magnitude and concerned primarily with cognitive functions such as psychomotor speed, executive function, visuospatial ability, working and visual memory”.

He said that farmer Margaret Percival recently rang the Health and Safety executive in Liverpool for the latest advice regarding organophosphate sheep dips.

The HSE assists employees to prosecute an employer in the event of ill-effects arising from the use of OPs but is unable to provide employers with any advice concerning the “safe” use of OPs. She was referred to the Veterinary MD in Northern Ireland but initially no one there could assist. The following day she was promised that an effort would be made to acquire leaflets that provide recommendations to farmers using OP sheep dips.

The questions that arise are these:

• What is being done in other countries?
• Is there an effective alternative to OP sheep dip being used abroad?
• What action is being taken abroad to tackle/control sheep scab (if any)?

Other groups affected include:

• Gulf War Veterans, who were exposed to pesticides on a daily basis during their tour of duty to protect them from pests such as sand flies, mosquitoes and fleas which carry infectious diseases
• airline pilots and cabin crew, who can be exposed to organophosphates in engine oil.
  

A chilling reminder from Peter Evans implies that very few people will be unaffected. He points out the perils accompanying the current use of OPs in the growing, transport and storage of food:

• in the holds of ships bringing produce from abroad,
• as an insecticide during the growing process,
• in warehouses,
• and supermarkets where the air conditioning is employed to distribute OPs around the store every 3 weeks to kill insects and other pests.

Time for the precautionary principle to come into play – better late than never.

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