38. Mrs. Butlerasked the Minister of Health whether he will consult the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs about the desirability of setting up a joint board of the food and drugs authorities in Greater London with responsibility and power to ensure full coverage by regular monitoring for radioactive content of all foods entering the Greater London area, and of all atmosphere and water affecting people in the Greater London area.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithMy right hon. Friend and I cannot see any special advantage in having a joint board for this purpose.
Mrs. ButlerDoes the Minister not regard it as urgent that existing monitoring arrangements should be supplemented and extended in some way and that a vast central population like that of London should be represented, so that all available figures for the London area can be interpreted and published?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI have no reason to think that there is a greater element of risk to foodstuffs entering the Greater 17 London area than elsewhere in the country. I do not think that a joint board could, as a matter of machinery, add to the efficacy with which this matter is being treated.
§ Mr. LiptonWill the right hon. and learned Gentleman bear in mind that this is not a purely academic question so far as London is concerned? Does he recall that immediately after the Windscale accident, there was a quite high increase in radioactivity in the London area as a result? Some better co-ordination ought to be devised.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI rather doubt whether the institution of a joint board would have materially affected this matter.
§ Dr. SummerskillCan the Minister tell the House what kind of machine has been devised? When the Prime Minister answers these questions, he always forgets that the danger is cumulative, which means that every little degree of radioactivity matters to the individual. The time has come when the House should be told how the Departments are organising themselves so that there shall be detection of infection.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThe right hon. Lady does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister considerably less than justice. The House will recall that his statement of 31st October last year gave a detailed account of the monitoring machinery in practice and the oversight of the monitoring under Lord Rothschild's Committee and its special sub-committee that was set up under Dr. Loutit, Director of the Medical Research Council Radio-biological Research Unit. It is all in HANSARD.
§ Dr. SummerskillIf the Minister looks at that statement, he will see that whenever the Prime Minister answers Questions on this subject, he entirely ignores the latest report of the United Nations.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI do not think so. My right hon. Friend's Answer was a long one and fully merits re-reading and reconsideration by the right hon. Lady.
39. Mrs. Butlerasked the Minister of Health the present arrangements for the monitoring for radioactivity of fish before it is available for sale to the public.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithMy right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has arrangements for monitoring the effluent from atomic energy establishments where it might affect fish in the neighbourhood. I have no reason to think that fish landed in this country carry an appreciable risk of contamination as they come from grounds far distant from any area used for nuclear test explosions.
Mrs. ButlerDoes the Minister realise that the discharge of radioactive waste into the sea has caused considerable public disquiet? Is it not important that there should be regular monitoring of fish to make quite sure that the public are protected from any contamination which may have occurred in any part of the world, as the currents of the sea are constantly moving?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThe Prime Minister has described the general monitoring arrangements. If what the hon. Lady has in mind is the monitoring of effluents that might affect the fish, or the monitoring of the fishing grounds, that would be a question for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
§ Mr. P. WilliamsCan my right hon. and learned Friend give an assurance that there will be a ban on red herrings during the period of the next election?
40. Mrs. Butlerasked the Minister of Health what are the present arrangements for the monitoring for radioactivity of food imported into this country.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithWith the exception of imported flour, which was included in the monitoring programme undertaken by the Agricultural Research Council referred to by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 31st October, 1957, no special tests are made of imported food. I have no reason to think that there is any appreciable risk from this source.
Mrs. ButlerWould the Minister look at this again? Does he not think it important to make sure that the public is adequately protected, in view of the variations in radioactive fall-out affecting food differently in different parts of the world from which we have imports?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithNaturally that is a matter to which we all give careful 19 consideration, but if the hon. Lady will refresh her memory of what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said on 31st October, she will see that there is this detailed procedure in operation at the present time.