§ Mr. Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will initiate an inquiry into the vertical dispersal of lead particles, the height at which the heaviest formations occur and whether or not the tenants of high-rise 231W flats are subject to any significant health hazard.
§ Mr. MarksNo. I am aware of no evidence to suggest that occupants of high-rise buildings may be subject to higher levels of airborne heavy metals than other city dwellers. In the absence of such evidence I do not consider research into the vertical distribution of heavy metals in the atmosphere to be required.
§ Mr. Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will ask a selected number of London boroughs to carry out surveys of airborne heavy metals such as lead particularly to assess the impact of vertically distributed lead on occupants of high rise buildings used during the daytime as offices without air conditioning facilities.
§ Mr. MarksNo. Surveys have been and are being made in London and in other urban areas of airborne heavy metals including lead. On the vertical distribution of lead I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him earlier today to a related Question.
§ Mr. Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if, in the light of the C. J. Muskett survey of airborne heavy metals carried out by the London borough of Islington, he considers the maximum levels consistent with the standards laid down by the Chief Medical Officer, DHSS, in 1971.
§ Mr. MarksMr. Muskett's survey does not contain data on levels of airborne metals as such, but rather, data on the accumulation of heavy metals from the air by sphagnum moss; these data do not permit levels of metal actually present in the air to be estimated. At present the United Kingdom has no general standards for maximum levels of heavy metals or other pollutants in the ambient environment.