§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, whether his Department was testing for caesium contamination in the potential human food chain in Cumbria prior to the Chernobyl accident.
§ Mr. Donald Thompson[pursuant to his reply, 5 March 1987, c. 227]: Yes. As part of its routine programme of monitoring the agricultural and aquatic environment in the vicinity of major nuclear sites, my Department was testing for a range of radionuclides, including caesium, in a range of foods and other environmental materials in Cumbria prior to Chernobyl.