Mr. H. Wilsonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance whether, in the light of evidence given at the inquest on the late Mr. Joseph Dearden, 67, Shaw Lane, Prescot, and death certificates of other persons, which have been handed to him by the right hon. Member for Huyton, he will order an inquiry into the incidence of cadmium poisoning in the copper refining industry in Prescot, Lancashire, with a view to the scheduling of cadmium poisoning as an industrial disease.
§ Mr. PeakeBenefit can be claimed for acute cadmium poisoning as an industrial accident. The question whether the continued absorption of cadmium in industry can cause a chronic form of cadmium poisoning is under investigation by the Medical Research Council and I am sending them copies of the documents which the right hon. Member has supplied.