§ Dr. Strossasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, whether the Medical Research Council will give consideration to the possible danger that may result from X-ray examination of pregnant women and to the desirability of affording the greatest possible protection in these and other cases against long-term ill-effects.
§ Mr. BevinsThis is an important subject which is being reviewed by the Medical Research Council, but there is at present no evidence that diagnostic radiology as practised in Great Britain produces harmful effects either in the mother or in the developing embryo. Information on the possible long-term effects of exposure to nuclear radiation from various sources will be reviewed in the report which is being prepared by the Council for publication as a White Paper. In the meantime, I can assure the hon. Member that it is appreciated by the medical profession that pregnant women should not be unnecessarily subjected to any form of ionizing radiation.
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§ Dr. Strossasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, if he will institute research to ascertain the extent to which the children of radiologists are more likely to suffer some abnormality at birth, than the rest of the population.
§ Mr. BevinsThe possibility of instituting research on the effects on radiologists and their offspring of exposure to ionizing radiations is already under consideration by the Medical Research Council.