`Danger' from lice treatment

Hundreds of thousands of children could be at risk after using head lice treatments based on chemicals used in sheep dips, it was claimed in the Commons last night by a Liberal Democrat MP.

Calling for the treatments to be withdrawn, until they were proved safe, Paul Tyler, the MP for North Cornwall, warned that some head lice preparations contained organophosphates (OPs), including Malathion, a chemical used in the Gulf War. As the party spokesman on rural affairs, Mr Tyler has been fighting for compensation for agricultural workers who claim they have suffered long-term illnesses as a result of OPs in ship dips.