§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if the pilot study for the testing of viruses in sea water will include the Solent and adjacent waters; if he will place in the Library the details and parameters of the study; and if he will extend the study to include the effect of disposal of sewage at sea on marine wildlife and the food chain.
§ Mr. HowardI can today announce that my Department has let a contract to establish the risks of health of bathing in the seas off the United Kingdom. This is on the recommendation of a working group of experts which was set up last year to advise me on the best way to assess the risk of contracting illnesses from sea bathing. The working group has recommended that two types of study should be made at bathing waters that meet the standards set in the EEC bathing water directive.
The first study involves bathers who are on the beach of their own volition. Information of any perceived symptoms will be obtained by means of a questionnaire at the time and subsequent telephone follow-ups.
The second study will involve the use of healthy volunteers who will be asked to swim in waters meeting
Beaches Scheme/type Total capital expenditure £ million Expected completion date Minehead Terminus; Dunster North Sea outfall with headworks 10.8 1989–90 Burnham Sea Jetty; Barrow Diversion of Sewage to inland works 3.1 1990–91 Weston Super Mare; Uphill Slipway and Grand Jetty New headworks for sea outfall 4.4 1990–91 Clevedon Swimming Pool Diversion of sewage to inland works 1.2 1990–91 The comparative costs of alternative schemes is not available.
206WEEC standards. The volunteers will be examined medically both before and after swimming. The Committee on Ethical Issues in Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians has given clearance for this study.
A contract has now been let to the Water Research Centre to carry out the first stage of the study this year. Further studies are likely to be required in 1990 and later years. The bathing waters at which the studies are to take place have yet to be selected.
Reports of the studies will be placed in the Library in due course. The studies will not be extended to study the effect of sewage disposal at sea or marine wildlife and the food chain. This area of research is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.