Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 27 October (HL2481), which countries have been notified by the Health and Safety Executive of the risks connected with exports of the chemical herbicide Paraquat.

The export of paraquat from Great Britain (GB) is regulated under the GB Prior Informed Consent (GB PIC) regulatory regime for the export and import of listed hazardous chemicals. Companies intending to export any of these chemicals from GB must notify the importing country via the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Designated National Authority. GB PIC requires all exports of listed chemicals to be labelled appropriately and accompanied by a safety data sheet (SDS) containing information on the intrinsic hazards of the chemical and on safe storage and use. Where possible, the information on the label and on the SDS must be given in an official language, or in one or more of the principal languages, of the country of destination.

In 2021, paraquat was exported from GB to Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa and the USA.