Clause 2 - Health functions
Health Protection Agency Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Dr Andrew Murrison (Shadow Minister, Public Services, Health & Education; Westbury, Conservative)
My hon. Friend rightly talks about mass casualties, but does he accept that there is also a danger of mass hysteria? I am thinking about a dirty nuclear bomb, for example, when the hysteria caused would probably be well out of proportion to the number of likely casualties. The agency's functions may well include trying to be realistic about the level of casualties that may be engendered and about the effect on the population. Hysteria may well be worse than the number of casualties.