HC Deb 26 March 1996 vol 274 cc517-8W
Mrs. Helen Jackson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the safe level of lead in drinking water for(a) babies, (b) children under three years of age, (c) expectant mothers and their unborn babies and (d) adults suffering from osteoporosis; [22973]

(2) when the Chief Medical Officer of Health last made a statement on the health dangers of lead in drinking water. [22975]

Mr. Horam

In 1989 the Chief Medical Officer accepted and endorsed advice on lead in drinking water from the Department of Health's expert advisory committee on the medical aspects of contamination of air, soil and water, thatthe aim in the long term should be to achieve compatibility both with the criterion that in not more than 2 per cent. of the population of interest should the blood lead concentration exceed 25 micrograms per decilitre, and with a weekly intake of not more than 25 micrograms lead per kilogram body weight in infants and children.

The advice was published in the Department of the Environment/Welsh Office "Guidance on safeguarding the quality of public water supplies", copies of which are available in the Library. Calculations published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in food surveillance paper No. 27, copies of which are also available in the Library, indicate that the criteria would be met for adults by water with an average lead concentration of 30 micrograms per litre or less, and for bottle-fed babies by water with an average lead concentration of 10 micrograms per litre or less.

Mrs. Jackson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has undertaken and when into the health dangers of lead in drinking water. [22974]

Mr. Horam

Through the health survey for England, the Department is supporting research into the relationship between blood pressure and blood lead levels. Studies on lead and human health have been supported by the Medical Research Council, which is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research, and which receives its grant in aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade.