§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many naval personnel serving on board nuclear submarines have been retired from the service after developing cancer since 1967; and what percentage this constitutes of the total complement of personnel. [19581]
§ Mr. SoamesInformation is not available in the form requested. However, an examination of the mortality of Royal Naval submariners 1960–89 has been undertaken by the Environmental epidemiology unit of the University of Southampton, under the auspices of the Medical Research Council. This focused particularly on cancer mortality, and concluded that working in submarines was not associated with any increased cancer mortality.