  We report on experiments allowing to set an upper limit on the magnitude of
the spin Hall effect and the conductance by edge channels in quantum wells of
PbTe embedded between PbEuTe barriers. We reexamine previous data obtained for
epitaxial microstructures of n-type PbSe and PbTe, in which pronounced nonlocal
effects and reproducible magnetoresistance oscillations were found. Here we
show that these effects are brought about by a quasi-periodic network of
threading dislocations adjacent to the BaF$_2$ substrate, which give rise to a
p-type interfacial layer and an associated parasitic parallel conductance. We
then present results of transport measurements on microstructures of modulation
doped PbTe/(Pb,Eu)Te:Bi heterostructures for which the influence of parasitic
parallel conductance is minimized, and for which quantum Hall transport had
been observed, on similar samples, previously. These structures are of H-shaped
geometry and they are patterned of 12 nm thick strained PbTe quantum wells
embedded between Pb$_{0.92}$Eu$_{0.08}$Te barriers. The structures have
different lateral sizes corresponding to both diffusive and ballistic electron
transport in non-equivalent L valleys. For these structures no nonlocal
resistance is detected confirming that PbTe is a trivial insulator. The
magnitude of spin Hall angle gamma is estimated to be smaller than 0.02 for
PbTe/PbEuTe microstructures in the diffusive regime.
