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Written question asked by Dai Davies (Independent (affiliation)) on Friday, 19 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 October 2007. It was answered by Derek Twigg (Labour) on Monday, 29 October 2007 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.


Nuclear Weapons: Testing

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been made of the potential adverse health effects of the use of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane to control flies on Christmas and Malden Islands during their use in British nuclear warhead tests.
Answer

The UK atmospheric nuclear tests took place in areas with high levels of tropical insect pests which presented a risk to health. To minimise this, aerial spraying of DDT was carried out. There is no reliable evidence that DDT causes adverse health effects in humans and MOD has not undertaken any specific assessment of the risks associated with the use of DDT in nuclear testing.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
160509; 465 c978W
Session
2006-07
Subjects
Nuclear weapons Radiation exposure Testing Pacific Ocean islands Insecticides Veterans
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk