§ Mr. Terry Walkerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if, in view of the fact that reports from local anglers indicate that fish and shellfish caught in the Bristol Channel contain a heavy concentration of lead, cadmium and similar heavy metals, and the most recent report of the Working Party on the Monitoring of Foodstuffs for Heavy Metals relates to data collected up to 1975, he will request the working party to issue a further report based on more recent data.
§ Mr. StrangI have been asked to reply.
Reports on the surveys of heavy metals in food which are conducted by the Working Party on the Monitoring of Foodstuffs for Heavy Metals are published when sufficient data have been accumulated to draw general conclusions or when there are significant new findings which justify their publication.
A survey of cadmium in food was published in 1973 and the results of the last survey of lead in food were published in 1975. Monitoring has continued since and no new data have been produced which would significantly alter the conclusions of the previous reports. It is expected that sufficient new data will be available to allow the publication of a supplementary cadmium report in 1978 and further reports will be published as appropriate.
The surveys of heavy metals in food have shown that in the Bristol Channel levels of cadmium and lead in fish are typical of those found in other areas of the United Kingdom coastline. Raised levels of cadmium and lead are found in shellfish caught in the Severn Estuary, but no major commercial fisheries exist in these areas and with the exception of winkles the species which are found are not normally consumed. Mussels in the area are generally too small to be eaten.