§ Mrs. René00e Shortasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent research into the possible short and long-term effects of plutonium being discharged into the sea is available to his Department.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithEnvironmental monitoring of the immediate effects of plutonium and research into the mechanisms underlying its longer-term behaviour form a substantial part of the work programme undertaken by my fisheries radiobiological laboratory. The monitoring results are included in the laboratory's annual report on26W radioactivity in surface and coastal waters. Information on the more fundamental research carried out by the laboratory is published from time to time, mainly in specialist journals and through appropriate symposia.
Officers from the laboratory also participate in, and have access to, international research programmes, including those of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Community. In addition, they have close working contacts with scientists in the United States and in other countries.