§ Mr. Altonasked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what study his department has made of the report by Professor J. H. Fremlin, professor of applied radioactivity at Birmingham university, concerning the cancer risk from radiation poisoned fish; and what conclusions have been arrived at.
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§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithProfessor Fremlin's report, prepared for the Cumbria county council, makes it clear that the risks arising from eating fish contaminated by radioactivity from Windscale are minimal compared with the deaths from cancer caused by other factors such as breathing the products of coal or oil combustion or heavy smoking.
I see no reason to disagree with his conclusions which, I understand, were based on published data.
The discharges to the sea from Wind-scale are authorised jointly by my right hon. Friends the Minister and the Secretary of State for the Environment and are well within the dose limits recommended by the International Commission on radiological protection.