PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
CHILDHOOD LEUKAEMIA AND SAGE (26 June 2007)

That this House notes the second anniversary of the Department of Health-funded Draper Report, published in the British Medical Journal in June 2005, which found that children who lived within 200 metres of high voltage power lines had a 70 per cent. higher risk of developing leukaemia than those who lived more than 600 metres away; welcomes the publication of the SAGE (Stakeholder Advisory Group on Extremely Low Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMFs)) report, jointly funded by the Department of Health, National Grid and the charity Children with Leukaemia, which identifies a ban on building new homes and schools near power lines as the best available option for obtaining a significant reduction in exposure to EMFs to protect children's health; notes that the report urges the Government to make a clear decision on whether to implement this option or not; recalls that the Government explicitly deferred taking action on the issue until the SAGE report was published; urges the Government to issue a response to the report as quickly as possible to prevent further uncertainty; notes the calls from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the charity Children with Leukaemia for Government to implement a building moratorium; and calls on the Government to find better ways to protect children from the increased risk of leukaemia.

Sponsored by:
Tim Loughton (Conservative)