§ 31. Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will arrange for the publication of a White Paper setting out in detail the number of deaths, type of injuries, and the nature of radiation diseases which would be caused to men, 767W women and children, domestic and farm animals, by the use of the neutron bomb in a populated area of Europe.
§ Mr. MulleyNo. The effects of radiation from an enhanced radiation reduced blast warhead—ER/RBW—would be the same as that of radiation from the existing nuclear weapons held by both East and West. The difference is that in the case of the ER/RBW the risk of injury to people and animals outside the immediate target area, from the heat and blast effects, would be reduced.
Country 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Belgium … … 2.8 2.8 3.1 3.2 3.3 Canada … … 1.9 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.0 Denmark … … 2.1 2.4 2.6 2.4 2.5 France … … 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.9 3.9 Federal Republic of Germany … … 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.4 Greece … … 4.1 4.2 6.5 — — Italy … … 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.5 2.5 Luxembourg … … 0.8 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.1 Netherlands … … 3.3 3.3 3.5 3.3 3.3 Norway … … 3.1 3.1 3.2 3.1 3.1 Portugal … … 6.0 7.4 5.4 4.0 3.3 Turkey … … 4.1 3.9 — — — United Kingdom … … 4.9 5.1 5.0 5.1 4.9 United States … … 6.0 6.1 6.0 5.4 5.5
Notes: 1. The figures for 1977 are preliminary estimates. 2. Information concerning Greek and Turkish defence expenditure in recent years is not available. Iceland has no defence forces. 3. The figures in the table are percentages of gross domestic product at market prices. The detailed geographical breakdown of the defence expenditure of our allies is not known but, with the exception of the United States, almost all defence spending by member States takes place within the NATO area. In the case of the United Kingdom, the proportion of gross domestic product represented by defence spending outside this area has been a small fraction of 1 per cent. throughout the five-year period.