Dr. ThomasTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to seek information from the Ukrainian and Byelorussian agriculture departments on the emergence of unpredicted mutations in vegetations in pine, oak and acacia trees, and in rodents and waterfowl in areas contaminated by radioactive fallout from Chernobyl.
§ Mr. MacleanScientists from my own and other Departments keep fully abreast of scientific developments through contact with their Soviet counterparts and others in various international fora. Migratory waterfowl that might have been in the vicinity of Chernobyl at the time of the accident were examined as part of my Department's extensive post-Chernobyl monitoring programme to ensure the safety of United Kingdom food supplies. The wider environmental implications of the accident are the concern of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment.