The Norwich Evening News is to hand over a dossier with the names of cancer victims it says could be linked to secret Government experiments, at this month's Labour Party conference.

The newspaper is campaigning for an investigation into whether chemicals released into the atmosphere above Norwich in 1963 and 1964 have any link to Norfolk's high death rate from oesophageal cancer.

As part of its bid the paper has enlisted the help of Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson, who will hand over the paper's findings to health secretary Patricia Hewitt during the conference.

More than 100 families have now contacted reporter Jane Denny, who has been coordinating the campaign, in support of the paper's bid for an inquiry.

Cadmium, which has since been linked to cancer, was released into the atmosphere above Norwich in a series of fly-pasts by scientists from biological warfare centre Porton Down, in Wiltshire.

They wanted to monitor its dispersal and claimed there was no significant safety risk.

Since launching the campaign the Evening News has also discovered that a scientist published a report on the dangers of cadmium ten years before the experiments took place.

It has also discovered documents that show the issue affects the whole county, as it was used as a 'control' to compare the results found in the city.

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