HC Deb 02 July 1964 vol 697 cc1517-8
3. Mr. Dudley Smith

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what investigations are taking place into the theory that petrol fumes may be a primary cause of lung cancer; and if he will make a statement.

The Minister of State for Education and Science (Sir Edward Boyle)

There is no evidence to suggest that petrol engine exhaust fumes are an important cause of lung cancer, whether primary or not, but research on the possible effect on health of these and other types of exhaust products continues to be undertaken by the Medical Research Council as part of its programme of work on air pollution.

Mr. Smith

Would my right hon. Friend agree that pollution from petrol and diesel fumes has increased dramatically in the past few years in urban areas and also that the lung cancer figures for the same areas have increased dramatically? Is not this more than a coincidence? In view of this, does not my right hon. Friend think it important to undertake as intensive an inquiry as the medical profession undertook into the dangers of cigarette smoking?

Sir E. Boyle

I am not sure that a professional logician would put the point quite as simply as my hon. Friend has put it. Petrol fumes are more hazardous than diesel fumes in the sense that, unlike diesel fumes, they contain carbon monoxide which is a toxic gas, but there is no evidence that they are more likely to be a cause of lung cancer.