§ 84. Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has yet considered the new scientific information available on the biological and environmental effects of nuclear war, details of which have been sent to him by the hon. Member for Willesden, West; and if he has decided that civil defence manuals should be rewritten in the light of this new evidence.
§ Mr. R. A. Butler:I understand that the hon. Member has in mind the report, published in 1959, of a United States congressional sub-committee. This interesting report has been closely studied here. But it does not contain scientific information that was not already known to us. Nor does it make it necessary to revise our civil defence manuals, which are kept under review in the light of the best scientific information available.