Danger check on toy Dr Who kits
- Publication: Reading Evening Post
- Date: 1970-05-25
- Author:
- Page: 1
- Language: English
READING public health officials have been checking shops in the town for "Dr Who" kits which may contain dangerous cancer-producing chemicals.
Dr Alexander Gatherer. Reading's Medical Officer of Health. said today that he had ordered the probe following a police report on the kits
The police report also went to the MoH's of Berkshire. Oxfordshire. Oxford City and Buckinghamshire as well as the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence.
Dr Gatherer said the search of shops likely to carry the kits was being carried out by Reading Council public health officials to ascertain whether any had been stocked and sold. He said: "This work is still being done."
And he added that a report on the result of the search would be presented to him within a few days.
Precaution
But Dr Gatherer added: "This is a precautionary measure. We don't think there are any kits in Reading."
The kits which are old chemical warfare detection outfits have been sold by dealers who bought them from Ministry of Defence surplus sales.
The alarm was first raised by an Oxfordshire headmaster who complained to the police about a kit he had taken from a boy's home in Kidlington, Oxon.
It contained some yellow tablets and an instruction booklet warning that should not come into contact with the skin.
Irritant
The tablets were sent to the Home Office Forensic Science Laboratory at Aldermaston for analysis.
An official at the Aldermaston scientific establishment. Mr M. D. J. Isaacs, reported that the tablets contained dianisidine "an irritant substance which falls within a class of chemical compounds known to be carcinogenic "
Oxfordshire's director of education Mr A. R. Chorlton has written to all headmasters In the county asking them to warn pupils about the dangers. Many of the tablets were removed from the kits before they were sold to the public.
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- APA 6th ed.: (1970-05-25). Danger check on toy Dr Who kits. Reading Evening Post p. 1.
- MLA 7th ed.: "Danger check on toy Dr Who kits." Reading Evening Post [add city] 1970-05-25, 1. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "Danger check on toy Dr Who kits." Reading Evening Post, edition, sec., 1970-05-25
- Turabian: "Danger check on toy Dr Who kits." Reading Evening Post, 1970-05-25, section, 1 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Danger check on toy Dr Who kits | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Danger_check_on_toy_Dr_Who_kits | work=Reading Evening Post | pages=1 | date=1970-05-25 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=23 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Danger check on toy Dr Who kits | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Danger_check_on_toy_Dr_Who_kits | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=23 April 2025}}</ref>
