HC Deb 06 April 1998 vol 310 cc124-5W
Dr. Gibson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria he is using to evaluate IQ deficits in relation to the reduction in levels of lead in water. [37580]

Ms Jowell

Approximate estimates of the expected relationship between lead in water and IQ are based on a combination of published models relating lead intake to blood lead levels1,2 and blood lead levels to IQ.2 1 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Lead in Food: Progress Report. The 27th report of the Steering Group on Food Surveillance. The working party on inorganic contaminants in food third supplementary report on lead. Food surveillance paper No 27. London: HMSO, 1989. 2 World Health Organization. Inorganic Lead. Environmental Health Criteria No 165. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1995.