§ Lord AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether entry certificate officers are aware of the Code of Practice for 2076WA Protection against Ionizing Radiations arising from Medical and Dental Use and, in particular, of Section 7.3.2 which provides that special precautions should be adopted in the radiography of women known to be pregnant and that only absolutely essential examinations should be carried out during pregnancy; how many X-ray examinations of pregnant women and women suspected of being pregnant were carried out on the instructions of such officers at Dacca in the calendar year 1978; and whether they are satisfied that all of these were absolutely essential.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSECOs are not required to be conversant withX-ray technology. It would be for the medical officer to decide whether a radiological examination was appropriate in a particular case. No statistics are available of the number of X-ray examinations of pregnant women which took place in Dacca during 1978. If an age assessment were requested of a woman believed to be pregnant, the medical officer's attention would be drawn to the pregnancy. In such cases the medical officer would have confined any X-rays to the skull area with the woman's body protected by a lead shield. Pending further consideration of the use of X-ray tests posts in the Indian sub-continent have been instructed to specify that X-rays for age assessment purposes should not be carried out on pregnant women.