HL Deb 17 July 1978 vol 395 cc137-9WA
Lord HALE

asked Her Majesty's Government:

With reference to the Seveso disaster:

  1. (i) what contributions have been made to the costs of research and assistance into the effects of dioxin poisoning by the Commission of the EEC since the original vote of 160,500 units of account in March 1977;
  2. (ii) What is the estimated total cost to public funds to date of such research and assistance;
  3. (iii) whether the third screening of children below ten years of age planned by the specially constituted chloracne panel organised by the Health and 138 Safety Directorate of the Commission of the EEC has been completed and with what results;
  4. (iv) whether the construction of a special incinerator to destroy the soil has been completed and what results have been obtained in the attempts to detoxicate Zone A;
  5. (v) whether it is now accepted as reported in The Times on 19th February 1977 that some 70,000 tons of material will he burned over a period of about three years; and
  6. (vi) whether it is accepted as true as stated in The Times of 6th May 1978 that some 5,000 claims for compensation have been lodged and that it is claimed that the facts already known include "nearly 350 ill or deformed children" an increase in miscarriages and tumours of the liver in humans and of sterility in livestock.

Lord WALLACE of COSLANY

In March 1977 the Commission of the EEC agreed to contribute 160,500 units of account to the costs of research and assistance into the effects of dioxin poisoning. This represented 26 per cent. of the total cost of a programme of 15 research studies, of which about two-thirds have been completed. Subsequently the Commission authorised an additional contribution of 40,000 units of account, 27 per cent. of the total costs, for the continuance of one of these studies related to contamination mapping. The United Kingdom contributes to the Community Budget as a whole rather than to individual parts. One share of the 1977 Community Budget was 19.24 per cent.

Her Majesty's Government have received no report, as yet, of the screening panel to which my noble friend refers. It is understood that the programme of screening tests approval by the panel is being carried out under contract by an Italian specialist. We are told that work is proceeding, that a report is expected shortly and that the panel will than be reconvened to study the results. We understand that construction of the special incinerator has not been completed. Two of the seven sub-areas into which Zone A was divided are understood to have been detoxicated.

It appears that little progress has been made on the pilot project for burning material and it is impossible to give precise figures of the amount of material to be burned. Her Majesty's Government have no detailed information which would enable us to confirm the facts and figures given in The Times report of 6th May 1978.