§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the relationship between the emissions of dioxins from incinerators with levels of (i) cancer and (ii) infertility. [15655]
§ Mr. HoramThe Department of Health, with other Government Departments, funds the small area health statistics unit—SAHSU—located at the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine. The SAHSU has carried out a study of cancer incidence near municipal solid waste incinerators, although it did not include measures of exposure to dioxins. The report of this study will be published in the March 1996 issue of theBritish Journal of Cancer.
The health effects of dioxins are also regularly reviewed by expert committees which advise the Government. These include the Committee on the Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, and the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment.