§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what mechanisms exist to supervise 220W experimentation by the National Radiological Protection Board where such experiments involve the introduction of radioactive materials into the bodies of animals; and if he will list in the Official Report the number of animals which have been subjected to such experiments in the last year.
§ Sir George YoungThe National Radiological Protection Board is required to restrict experimentation with animals to members of its scientific staff licensed by the Home Office under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876. The licensees and the animal facilities are visited, usually without warning, by Home Office inspectors. The board has to report the details of all experiments annually. In the current year, radioactive substances have been administered to 437 rats and 474 hamsters. Experimentation with animals is essential to understand the distribution of radionuclides within the body, to calculate the radiation doses that arise from them and to assess the consequential biological effects. It is also used to develop methods for the elimination of radionuclides from the body.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether any experiments have been conducted by the National Radiological Protection Board which have involved the use of human volunteers; and whether any human beings have had radioactive materials introduced into their bodies during the course of any such experiments.
§ Sir George YoungThe board has conducted experiments involving nine volunteer members of its own staff, to whom radioactive substances producing very low doses of radiation were administered. The experiments are designed to develop a method of administering a decontaminating agent to humans by inhalation instead of injection.