§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the health effects of service on a submarine. [74950]
§ Mr. SpellarThe Royal Navy has a comprehensive strategy to monitor for the health effects of submarine service. It is based on a programme of selective and rigorous medical screening and regular occupational health surveillance of individual submariners including monitoring for radiation exposure. This is backed up by epidemiological studies performed by independent authorities and a comprehensive system of scientific evaluation conducted in collaboration with other nations operating submarines.
As my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces announced in his written answer on 24 February 1999, Official Report, columns 300–01, medical studies have shown that some contaminants, which are present in the atmosphere of a submarine, exceed the levels which are considered safe for the foetus of a pregnant women. These contaminants pose no risk to adults.
The results of an independent mortality study undertaken for the Royal Navy by the Medical Research Council and published in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal in 1997 concluded that submariners are an occupational health group with an overall lower rate of mortality among workers than in the general population.