European Parliament
Atkins (PPE-DE ).
Is the Minister aware that even the authors of this report acknowledge that levels are so low as to be insignificant to health; that levels are a thousand times less than other radioactive substances naturally present in teeth; that most of the highest results were recorded over 250 miles from Sellafield; that this material is more likely to be fallout from weapons testing, which has been present throughout the Northern Hemisphere for some years; that respected scientific and academic opinion in Northern Ireland – for which I was the minister responsible for a couple of years – as well as in his own country, contradicts many of the assertions of the Irish anti-Sellafield lobby; and that when all is said and done, this is little more than political scaremongering designed to wreck thousands of the jobs of my constituents in north-west England and to damage the livelihoods of those many communities dependent upon this vital and valuable recycling operation?

