§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide a detailed breakdown of the derived emergency reference levels for the radioactive contamination of food that have been in use by his Department since the Chernobyl accident.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe derived emergency reference levels were published by the National Radiological Protection Board and I am therefore asking it to write to the hon. Member to explain how they are calculated.
§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide a breakdown of the comparative derived emergency reference levels currently in use in each of the EEC countries including the United Kingdom.
§ Mrs. RumboldThere has been no official compilation of values for DERLs in the member states of the European Community. However, publications of the World Health Organisation and informal exchanges of information indicate a range of values from 250 bq/kg for vegetables in Greece and the Federal Republic of Germany, up to 5000 bq/kg for any foodstuffs in emergency conditions in Italy.