Report References to occupational exposures Challenges faced by workers an inquiry and public debate into whether farmers were misled over the use of organophosphatebased pesticides. Officials of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs explained that no precaution could ever offer 100 per cent protection from any exposure to organophosphate-based pesticides, and explained the difficulty in predicting exposure levels. In the May 1991 report, manufacturers of the sheep-dipping chemicals were criticized for providing inadequate protective measures and instructions for the use of the product. At the time, legislation and guidance to ensure the protection of agricultural workers using the organophosphate-based pesticides placed the burden on farmers to protect themselves. Since 1995, the sale and supply of organophosphate-based pesticides have been restricted to appropriately trained and certified users. The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2006 introduced a requirement for sheep dipping to be supervised by a holder of a certificate of competence. The United Kingdom Government stated that it has invested a considerable amount of time and public money to understand all the risks relating to those compounds and determine how they could be minimized, and that it has been unable to identify any causal link between exposure to organophosphate-based pesticides and the symptoms reported. The Special Rapporteur was also referred to a statement on organophosphates issued by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment in 2014, which concluded that exposures to cholinesterase-inhibiting organophosphates that are insufficient to cause overt acute poisoning do not cause important long-term neurological toxicity in adults. However, a number of medical experts have spoken out about the use of organophosphate-based sheep dips and the high number of incidents of chronic ill health within the farming community. One independent study, which reviewed the available evidence concerning the neurotoxicity of low-level occupational exposure to organophosphate-based pesticides, found that 13 out of 16 studies showed evidence of neurological problems following long-term, low-level exposure. The United Kingdom Government stated that the Committee had reviewed this study, reaching its conclusion in 2014. 55 The Special Rapporteur made a number of recommendations to the Government, including one • Inadequate standards of protection • Limited progress in prevention of exposure • Inaccessible remedies, justice and accountability A/HRC/39/48 While the United Kingdom has certain specific laws and common law rules to protect human rights in the context of business activities, for example the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004, comprehensive legislation to hold businesses to account for human rights abuses is lacking. While legislation provides for the criminal prosecution of a business enterprise, it is very difficult to prove the intent of a business, and the criminal justice system tends to focus on individual criminal liability, which can be difficult to attribute to a company. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, mandated to examine human rights matters within the United Kingdom, has recommended that the Government bring forward legislation to impose a duty on all companies, including parent companies, to prevent human rights abuses, with failure to do so becoming an offence, as under the Bribery Act 2010. The United Kingdom also appears to suffer from insufficient expertise and resources to efficiently combat corporate crime.