Supplementary to Question No. 5
in LegCo Meeting on 25.3.87
Mr. CHUNG
Sir, since the control of toxic substances at
present falls under a number of Ordinances, would the Secretary
inform this Council whether the Government would consider
having a co-ordinating body or department to deal with all
areas relating to toxic substances?
Secretary for Trade and Industry: Sir, it just happens that
as Secretary for Social Services in the distant past, I
appointed a working party to look into the problem of toxic
substances. This was in 1979. The working party eventually
reported to my colleague, the Secretary for Health and Welfare,
in 1983 on the matter. The working group looked into this
question and classified the following groups of toxic
substances,
household
namely: pesticides, pharmaceuticals,
chemicals, industrial chemicals, food additives, radioactive
materials, and carcinogens. Having regard to this great
diversity of subjects involved, I fear it will not be
appropriate for the Government to consider having
having an overall
body in charge of the problem. However, I would not like
Mr. CHUNG to think that we are totally negative in this regard
because the Administration is initiating a review of the
various existing measures covering consumer product safety and
whether, and if So, what additional measures including the
possibility of
of legislation should be
raised by Mr. CHUNG will
certainly
introduced. The point
be considered in this
somewhat narrower context if
it was
decided that legislation
was desirable.