Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department has evaluated the research work done by Professor Derek Ellwood at the University of Durham and Dr. Jim Watson of Southampton university on the relationship between the discharge of the desulfovibrios micro-organism in toxic waste streams at the nuclear plants at Dounreay and Sellafield, the uptake of radiotoxic nucleides such as plutonium by the gut wall, and incidences of childhood leukaemias above the statistical norm in the vicinities of the two nuclear plants.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyWe understand that Professor Ellwood and Dr. Watson have not, in the course of their work, considered the uptake of plutonium or any other radionuclide.