§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Minister of Health if he will publish at regular intervals a summary showing the concentration of radioactive strontium caesium and iodine in the milk supplies of areas in the United Kingdom which are designated by the Agricultural Research Council as special areas because of their altitude or high rainfall.
§ Mr. SharplesI have been asked to reply by my noble Friend the Minister for Science, who is responsible for the Agricultural Research Council.
Reports on radioactivity in milk and other foods are already published at appropriate intervals by the Agricultural Research Council. These reports include figures for strontium 90 and caesium 137 in milk from "special areas" and also figures for iodine 131 (which is monitored on a somewhat different basis). The latest report was published on 25th September, 1963. As explained in that report "Special Areas" are sites, usually isolated farms, where high rainfall or characteristics of vegetation and soil can be expected to lead to the highest concentrations of 236W strontium 90 in milk. It was also explained that these sites are in no way representative of normal agricultural conditions in the counties where they are situated, and that production of milk at such sites is often intermittent.