Rajeev Chandrasekhar's official website - Member of Parliament

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Department of Atomic Energy

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.313
TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.11.2010
Death of Scientists in Barc

 

313. SHR1 RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR:
Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

  1. whether the death of scientists of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) due to cancer have come to the notice of Government;
  2. if so, the details thereof; and
  3. the corrective measures Government has taken or proposes to take in this regard?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PLANNING & PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS

(SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY):

(a) & (b) Number of cancer deaths amongst BARG scientists does not exceed
the national average.
The government has come across newspaper, reports on the subject. These are not factually correct. BARG has a strength of more than 16,000 employees including nearly 12,000 scientific and technical personnel. Since January 1995 till end of December 2009, as per record& a total of 69 serving employees of BARG (below 60 years of age) have died due to cancer. All of them are not scientists. The 'annual rate of death due to cancer for BARG employees will be approximately 30.94 per 1,00,000. The death rate in Mumbai as per the cancer registry is about 36 per 100000. This rate depends on age group, diagnostic and treatment facilities, lifestyle, location etc. Thus the death rate of BARC employees due to cancer is not more than the national average or that for the city of Mumbai. None of these deaths is attributable to their working with or exposure to radiation or radioactivity.

( c)  As a welfare policy, DAE provides excellent healthcare to its
employees (including those of BARG) and their families through its Contributory Health Services Scheme (CHSS) covering all illnesses. In Mumbai, BARC caters to more than 87,000 beneficiaries of CHSS. This is done through a 330 bed BARC hospital, 12 peripheral dispensaries as well as reputed tertiary care hospitals. As regards radiation exposure of its employees, all the protective measures and exposure control protocols are in place as per international
standards. The exposures of the employees are within the limits approved by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the occupational and research workers are regularly monitored for the same.

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