A NEW plea has gone out for a Government probe into the plight of dozens of cancer patients who claim their lives were ruined by experimental radiotherapy treatment.

Rossendale and Darwen Labour MP Janet Anderson, who has herself endured a cancer scare, sparked a Commons storm earlier this year over the traumatic effects of the Selectron treatment.

She said many cervical cancer patients, including Catherine Mercer, of Sands Road, Rishton, were left with horrific internal injuries after they were put on a trial course of high-dosage radiation.

Catherine claimed she was not told that the treatment she received was part of a trial and could cause dreadful side-effects.

Former Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley refused to set up an investigation. Now Mrs Anderson, backed by Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, is urging new Secretary of State for Health Stephen Dorrell to launch an inquiry.

She has put down a special Commons protest motion which appeared on the final Order paper sent to all ministers, MPs and senior civil servants before Parliament broke up for Christmas.

The motion said: "We are appalled to learn of the plight of cervical cancer patients, treated by the Christie Hospital in Manchester, who have suffered serious radiotherapy injuries. We believe that these injuries were sustained during an experimental course of treatment on the Selectron machine, of which patients were not properly informed and which have resulted in patients incurring bowel, bladder and other damage which has made their lives intolerable."

Some injuries were so traumatic that patients had tried to commit suicide, and family relationships had been shattered, the motion added.

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