§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in following up the advice on chemicals of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment contained in recent reports on leukaemia incidence in young people resident in west Cumbria and other areas.
§ Mr. DorrellThe Department of Health referred both the recommendation and the advice to the Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COM).
Its study into the chemicals used at Dounreay and Sellafield is nearing completion and I will arrange publication of the results in due course. A summary of its advice on whether there is evidence that potential exposure to chemicals may result in malignancies in the first generation offspring follows. 146W
The results from a limited number of laboratory animal studies suggest that paternal exposure to certain mutagenic chemicals and radiation can result in malignancies in their first generation offspring. Although the limited data available from humans exposed to cytotoxic agents used therapeutically have not indicated any such effect, the committee nevertheless felt it prudent to assume that a chemical that has been shown to be mutagenic in germ cells in laboratory animals has the potential to induce malignancies in the first generation offspring.Regarding the excess leukaemias at Sellafield COM considered possible mechanisms that could be involved if the effects were indeed a consequence of the mutagenic effects of a chemical. It was difficult to explain the observed incidence by any known mutational mechanism, but the committee felt that there was a need for a better understanding of the mechanistic basis of tumour induction following paternal exposure. They advised that further work was needed, involving both radiation and chemicals, in particular urethane.The Government are grateful to COM for this advice and will implement its recommendations.
A copy of the full text of the Committee's statement has been placed in the Library.