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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will fund studies using radiological techniques proposed by Dundee and St. Andrew's Universities on the state of the health of UK nuclear veterans and their families. [74728] Mr. Spellar: We are aware of the techniques that researchers at Dundee plan to use should their research proposals be adopted but we have serious doubts about their general applicability to nuclear test veterans. One of the techniques, the detection of chromosome aberrations, has already been the subject of a pilot study by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) involving test veterans and was found to lack resolution since the level of such aberrations is naturally elevated in people of this age group. Of the other techniques, the magnitude of the dose required to produce long-term effects in the organs to be studied is very high. It is extremely unlikely that veterans could have received radiation doses sufficient to produce such effects 40 years after the alleged exposure. This is borne out by the fact that two robust epidemiological studies have shown no increase in leukaemia rates and no overall increase in mortality, either in cancer or non-cancer diagnoses. It would therefore be inappropriate to allocate public funds to this work.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

74728; 336 c193-4W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Cancer Health Nuclear weapons Radiation exposure Research Testing Veterans