HL Deb 27 February 1963 vol 247 cc84-5

2.52 p.m.

VISCOUNT CALDECOTE

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are taking precautionary measures to protect the public against an increase of strontium 90 in diet.]

THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE (VISCOUNT HAILSHAM)

My Lords, levels of strontium 90 remain well below the limits prescribed by the Medical Research Council. Nevertheless, as a long-term precaution, Her Majesty's Government have decided to set up an experimental pilot plant to examine the problems in the removal of strontium 90 from milk by an ion-exchange process. The Agricultural Research Council have accordingly arranged for a pilot plant to be designed and constructed at the National Institute for Research in Dairying at Shinfield, near Reading. Advantage will be taken of the results of the experimental work already conducted in the United States of America.

VISCOUNT CALDECOTE

My Lords, may I thank the noble Viscount for his Answer and say that I am sure that it will give confidence and satisfaction to the British public.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, may I ask the noble Viscount what value his advisers attach to the sweets which it has been announced are going to be distributed and which are advertised as being an antidote to strontium 90?

VISCOUNT HAILSHAM

My Lords, that is a more difficult question. It does not, strictly, arise from the original Question, but I will do my best to answer the noble Lady impromptu. Of course, it is logical that an ingestion of inert strontium, which is an element found in nature, would prevent, other things being equal, an ingestion of strontium 90. Owing to the facts of life, which include the periodic table, calcium would almost certainly do as well, and sweets, of course, can cause dental caries, as most people know. This is a purely private venture. There is a certain logic behind it but I neither wish to depreciate it nor to endorse it myself.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord, in view of his answer (I presume, of course that he read the details of this in the weekend Press) whether he will recall that certain eminent scientists supported the proposition that these sweets ought to be effective?

VISCOUNT HAILSHAM

My Lords, I read the week-end Press and I have had this information with me for months. It has a certain logic behind it. Calcium would do as well; and as calcium, in any event, is an ingredient in bread, because we add it to bread nowadays, I should have thought that the necessity for these sweets was not absolutely demonstrated. As regards eminent scientists, of course they are entitled to express their own opinion, but I think parents need not feel that this is de rigeur for their children. I personally would feel that the dangers of dental caries in sweets were greater than the dangers from fall-out.