§ 14. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Health, as representing the Lord President of the Council, how many British research workers engaged on the study of nuclear hazards have visited Japan, under Government auspices, for the purpose of examining directly the evidence at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and of the effects of hydrogen-bomb explosions in the Pacific and in Siberia; and what liaison exists between British and Japanese research workers on the subject.
§ Mr. VosperVarious medical officers of the armed Services, including specialists, have been stationed in Japan since 1945 and have worked in close co-operation with the United States Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission. No other research workers have visited Japan under Government auspices, but both formal and informal liaison exists between British and Japanese workers in this, as in other, research fields.
§ Mr. SwinglerWould it not be worth while making this liaison a little closer? Can the right hon. Gentleman explain why the Japanese Government's scientific advisers appear to have arrived at rather different conclusions from those of the scientific advisers to Her Majesty's Government and regard the dangers of nuclear hazards as a good deal greater?
§ Mr. VosperThe Question asked how many scientists from this country have visited Japan. My answer is that none have done so, because the United States authorities have complete information and have made all that information available to our people.
§ Dr. SummerskillDoes the right hon. Gentleman recall what is said with regard to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in page 23 of the Medical Research Council's Report, which he has been quoting in this House all the time? Further to my hon. Friend's Question, does the Minister recall that, in that Report, the Medical Research Council specifically mentions the eleven mentally defective children 22 born of expectant mothers exposed to radiation in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki incidents?
§ Mr. VosperThat in no way affects the Answer I have given to the hon. Gentleman's Question.
§ 17. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Health, as representing the Lord President of the Council, what is now the annual rate of expenditure on research on nuclear hazards; and how many scientists are working full time on the subject.
§ Mr. VosperExpenditure by the Medical Research Council during the year 1956–57 on the hazards of nuclear and allied radiations is estimated at approximately £380,000. Over eighty scientists are working full time on the subject.
§ Mr. SwinglerConsidering the terrible dangers involved in this business, is it not a paltry sum for research? Is the Minister not aware that people are very suspicious about his constant references to an out-of-date Report and that there is a feeling, which has been expressed by many scientific correspondents, for example, the scientific correspondent of the Observer yesterday, that the scientific information given to Her Majesty's Government is now obsolescent and is not in accordance with the facts?
§ Mr. VosperA great deal of that falls beyond the original Question, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that the Medical Research Council has, in fact, approved in principle plans for an increased programme of work on the genetic effects of radiation.