§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the recent inquiry commissioned by the NFU into the alleged link between skin cancer and pylon lines; and if he will make a statement. [123907]
329W
§ Yvette CooperNo assessment has been made into the alleged link referred to in the question although the general allegation of an association between power line and health effects has been widely researched. The Department of Health Radiation Protection Research Programme has its own ongoing investigations and also contributes to the World Health Organisation International Electromagnetic Fields Project. In 1992, the National Radiological Protection Board's (NRPB) Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation examined in detail the evidence for an association between the incidence of cancer and exposure to electromagnetic fields and concluded that there was no clear evidence of an adverse health effect at the levels of electromagnetic field to which the public is normally exposed. The NRPB Advisory Group keeps the relevant research under review and will be publishing a comprehensive overview of electromagnetic fields and cancer later this year.