§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the number of sampling points and the frequency of sampling in each district health authority where samples have been taken to test for the incidence of paralytic shellfish poisoning for the last 24 months; and what have been the results.
§ Mr. JackI have been asked to reply.
Samples of mussels have been taken by environmental health officers for many years from the NE coast of England, where PSP is known to occur seasonally from April to September. Sampling begins fortnightly in April from eight sites from Berwick-on-Tweed to Bridlington, increasing at the height of the season to sampling from each site every week. Results followed the expected 483W pattern in 1992 and 1993, peaking at 148.2 microgrammes of Saxitoxin equivalent/100g in June 1992 and 1,587.5 microgrammes of Saxitoxin equivalent/100g in May 1993.