Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on whether studies have been done on potential links between military aircraft exhaust emissions and rare cancers.

Two studies have been commissioned by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to examine the potential links between military aircraft exhaust emissions and rare cancers.

In 2022, the Institute of Naval Medicine examined if there were any causal links between exposure to benzene from Sea King helicopter exhaust and the incidence of leiomyosarcoma and multiple myeloma.

In 2024, the Independent Medical Expert Group was commissioned to assess whether there is a causal link between helicopter exhaust emissions and rare cancers.

Both reports found that the available evidence did not meet internationally accepted causation criteria.