An investigation is to be launched into claims that workers at the Sellafield nuclear site who died in the Sixties and Seventies had body parts removed for radiological testing without their families' knowledge. The GMB union said that up to 70 former employees of the plant in Cumbria may have had bones, tissues and organs removed, and called for an inquiry.

Gary Smith, the union's national officer, said: "Our chief concern is for the families of those who died during this period and the anguish they
face."

Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, is due to make an emergency statement to the Commons today. A spokesman for the DTI said: "Alistair Darling will be appointing a leading QC to lead a full, proper and independent investigation to establish the facts, the reports of which will be made public."

The issue came to light when a research institute asked to re-examine historic research data to support new studies, said the British Nuclear Group, which runs Sellafield. The request was considered by a medical committee which realised there was no evidence of the families having consented. Files are said to exist for 65 cases.

(By Sadie Gray, The Independent, 18/04/2007)