Mr. Jim Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information is available to him on the contribution of airborne lead to the levels of lead in both children and adults living close to motorways in the United Kingdom.
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§ Sir George YoungEvidence on the contribution of air-borne lead from traffic exhaust fumes to the total body burden of lead is being examined by an expert working party established at the end of 1978 to review the overall effect on health, and the relative significance of the various sources, of environmental lead. I hope to receive the working party's report early next year.
A report to the Commission of the European Communities giving the preliminary analyses for 20 of the 40 blood lead surveys undertaken in the United Kingdom in fulfilment of the EEC directive on the biological screening of the population for lead which included some surveys of children and adults living near motorways and main roads, has been placed in the Library of the House, as stated by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Mr. Steen) on 15 November.—[Vol. 973, c. 773–74.]