§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has on any link between nuclear fall-out and cancer.
§ Mr. MoyleThe National Radiological Protection Board tells me that following an accident during testing of thermonuclear weapons at Bikini in 1954, a number of inhabitants of the Marshall Islands and a few Japanese fishermen were exposed to high doses of acute radiation from fall-out. An increased incidence of benign and malignant thyroid modules related to radiation has been founa in these people. This is probably the only group ever to be so affected. An increase in the incidence of cancer attributable to fall-out has not been demonstrated in any other population, and in particular there is no known link between fall-out and cancer in the United Kingdom.