British Rail suspends use of 2,4,5-T
NZPA-ReuterT.. . London Britain’s State-owned railway organisation, British Rail,, has suspended, use of the controversial weedkiller, 2,4,5-T, as calls mount for a total ban. .
A British Rail spokesman said yesterday that.it would not use 2,4-,5-T until the Governmient’s- advisory committee on pesticides reports on its latest investigation.
The committee has already investigated'it eight times and cleared it. each time. The -Study was prompted by.;.a submission from the British Agriculture Workers’ Union, which links 2,4,5-T withjA-birth-- deformities, miscarriages, cancer and skin disease.
The pesticide itself hasp not been made in Britain for): five years, although an esti-p mated three tonnes — imported from Germany — are ' used in the country every p year. p British Rail sprayed 2,4,5-i T from special work trains p on weed-infested embankments alongside tracks around the . country. ’lts move to suspend its use| came after fears from resi-i dents living along-side rail-] way lines that 2,4,5-T could i contaminate homes and: schools, both by direct contact with it and indirectly through gardens. ' The “Daily Mirror” said that the location of a 2,4,5-T “time bomb” tip con-
taminated with dioxin was istill being hushed up. The Coalite Chemical Company 'in Derbyshire — whose ! employees after a medical examination were said to ihave a greater chance of | suffering cardiovascular diseases — apparently buried ! contaminated machinery after a chemical explosion in 1968. ’ - . ■, . I The “Mirror” said residents at a small village in ■Derbyshire believed they had pound the spot where the i machinery was buried. They tethered goats near the area and described it as “bloody eerie,” the “Mirror” said, when the goats' refused to move or eat the grass.
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Press, 31 March 1980, Page 8
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272British Rail suspends use of 2,4,5-T Press, 31 March 1980, Page 8
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