HC Deb 15 February 1978 vol 944 cc247-9W
Mr. Skeet

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether the accumulation of trace elements in the environment with the growth in the number of fossilised fuel power stations presents or is

would have left school the previous summer.

for January 1970, July 1977 and January 1978.

Mr. Golding,

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13th February 1978; Vol. 944, c. 78], gave the following answer:

The following table gives unemployment rates for the areas specified.

likely in the future to present any hazard to health.

Mr. Eadie

I have been asked to reply:

The great majority of the trace elements in fossil fuels do not escape into the environment. The small quantities which are released are dispersed very widely. They contain the same elements as are present in the dusts and soils of the natural environment from which they originated and to which they are eventually returned. I am advised that the small quantities involved do not represent any known hazard to human health.