§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will make a statement on the progress of the Scottish case control study of childhood cancer; and whether he can indicate any provisional findings;
1065W(2) what studies are being carried out by the Scottish Office following the recommendations by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment in its report on leukaemia in the Dounreay area; and what is the remit of each of these studies and the areas covered by the studies.
§ Mr. StewartThe Scottish case control study is one of two studies currently being carried out following the recommendations of the second report of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment—COMARE. The study is investigating the role of possible risk factors in the causation of childhood cancers. Information is being collected from the parents of children registered with cancer in the period 1991 to 1995, and from the parents of a comparison group of healthy children. The study, which covers the whole of Scotland, has links with similar studies in England and Wales, thus forming part of the largest epidemiological study of childhood cancer ever undertaken. All the Scottish study information so far obtained is currently being computerised in preparation for analysis. Until that analysis has been completed, it is not possible to indicate even provisional findings.
The other study seeks to confirm all childhood cancers diagnosed in Scotland in the period 1975 to 1990. The validated database will then be used in an analysis of the incidence of childhood cancer in relation to all nuclear sites in Scotland.