§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list by county, and by year for the last five years, the number of reported cases of radioactive caesium in people.
§ Mr. GristThe information is not available in the form requested. However, last month the Welsh Office published a report of a study of radioactivity in over 150 volunteers in north, south and mid-Wales.
The study showed that there were no significant differences between the body burdens of radiocaesium of the volunteers from the different parts of Wales, and that if the body burdens continue to decline at the current rate, levels in the Welsh population will on average reach pre-Chernobyl levels some time this year. A copy of the report "Whole Body Monitoring Research Project" is in the Library.
Welsh subjects are also participating in a national survey of radiocaesium levels in people, sponsored by the Department of the Environment.