Amended answers to Oral Questions — Question No. 7 to Minister, 26 October

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. On Thursday, 26 October I advised the House that anonymised individual data from the Paritutu dioxin serum study had been provided to peer reviewers of the Institute of Environmental Science and Research report, as I had been advised by the Ministry of Health. I have subsequently been advised that only analysed anonymised data was provided to the peer reviewers. I am also advised that this in line with normal accepted practice in an environmental epidemiological survey.

However, the Ministry of Health has asked the World Health Organization to appoint an additional expert to review the report. This expert will be provided with the individual anonymised data. I can also advise the House that after discussions with the Ombudsman and the Privacy Commissioner, the Ministry of Health has released appendix O of the Paritutu report under the Official Information Act, though it has been slightly amended at the request of the Privacy Commissioner.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Could the Minister clarify whether the independent expert he talked about, which the World Health Organization is to appoint, will be the only expert, or will there be another expert? The Minister did not make that clear, at all.

💬 Madam SPEAKER: Can the Minister assist the member in this, please.

I am happy to assist the member. This report has been subject to a number of peer reviews. About 2 weeks ago it was subjected to an additional peer review, and about 1 week ago to an additional peer review, again. The last review is the one where the reviewer was chosen not by the Ministry of Health but by the World Health Organization.