A PRISONER from Bolton is gathering evidence on a dangerous chemical he believes is to blame for his nine-year jail sentence.

Simon Lee, of Horwich, believes sheep dip poisoning led to him shooting his wife with an air rifle after they had a row about a shepherd's pie. However, a judge at Preston High Court dismissed evidence from his defence that organophosphates, also known as OPs, could have been a factor in the attempted murder. Kathryn Eccles finds out more.

ORGANOPHOSPHATES -- what are they? The Government says they are safe, but many in the farming industry say they are not. So, what are we to believe?

OPs are an organic derivative of phosphoric or similar acids. They were discovered by the Germans in the 1930s for use in chemical warfare and by the end of that decade German chemists had produced 2,000 OPs, including Sarin, which was used as a nerve gas.

OPs are mainly used in sheep dips -- for which farmers need licences. But OPs are sprayed on our food as pesticides, used to rid our pets of fleas and are even used in treatment against head lice.

Brenda Sutcliffe is a farmer in Littleborough and has been campaigning to ban OPs for the last 10 years. She uses an injection to treat her sheep from sheep scab (what sheep dip is used for) because she claims OPs affect the mind and body through the nervous systems.

She has carried out hundreds of hours of research into how OPs have affected farmers in particular.

Her campaigning has gathered much support, including backing from farming families.

Some people believe OPs have played a part in farmers being depressed. In Wales alone, from 1987 to 1991, 876 farmers committed suicide.

Brenda believes BSE originated from OPs and had a report published in the BSE Government inquiry.

She says: "There are 27 known symptoms of OP poisoning ranging downwards from brain haemorrhage to pneumonia with a severe dose of gastro-enteritis in the middle, yet the Government does not want to acknowledge the dangers.

"When environmental health officials come to see you dip your sheep, they are instructed to stand 14 feet away, yet it is OK for the sheep to be covered in it and for us to dip them."

It is a Government requirement that farmers dip their sheep to prevent scab.

Brenda is backing Simon Lee against his jail sentence by providing him with evidence to support his chances of an appeal.

She said: "In Simon Lee's case, the courts say you need to get medical evidence but we are struggling to get a doctor to him who knows about OPs."

The Government is coming under increasing pressure to carry out a full investigation into the effects of OPs and ban them.

The fifth report of a Government agriculture committee, published in May, 2000, stated: "We do not dismiss the sufferings of those with ill health linked to sheep dips but believe it to be to the general benefit that OP sheep dip concentrates are restored to the market."

A 1999 Department of Health working group report stated available data indicated that exposure to OP sheep dips was not a major factor in the excess suicide rate among British farmers.

But they went on to admit most of their research was carried out on people who were fit enough to work and were working at the time.

They said there was an urgent need for further research, particularly into the risk of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases being increased by low-level exposure to OPs. Yet this still has not been done.

But OPs do not just affect farmers. Several pet shops in Bolton sell an OP called Duramitex and do not need a licence to sell it. Duramitex is a concentrate that needs diluting and is used to clean out pigeon lofts and hen houses.

There are many warnings on the bottle including not to breathe in the substance, to remove all food and water before using it and not to spray any on to pigeons or hens.

OPs are used in the treatment against head lice and the chances are most of us have eaten food sprayed with the chemical.

Yet the Government has admitted in the above reports that there is not enough research into the long-term effects of OPs on human health.

A spokesman from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "The Government takes the issue of possible risks to human health from exposure to OPs very seriously."

He said the Government had been pro-active by sponsoring research into alternative treatments in animals where OPs are currently used as well as investing £1.4 million into a research programme.

The results of the programme, which includes researching sheep dips and non-sheep dip OP veterinary products are expected by the end of 2006.