A WORCESTER lecturer who underwent chemical contamination tests with her family is among a group of campaigners lobbying the European Parliament.

Ecology lecturer Beth Williams is among World Wildlife Fund staff members and Women's Institute members who travelled to Brussels on a "toxic" double-decker bus filled with hazardous chemicals yesterday.

They handed over a petition signed by more than 77,000 people to the Parliament calling for a number of chemicals found in everyday household products to be banned under the new REACH legislation, which aims to regulate industrial chemicals.

Miss Williams, her partner Andrew Sharkey and their children Seamus and Connie, from Worcester Road in Stourport-upon-Severn, all took part in a WWF experiment last year when they had blood samples taken to discover the dangers of chemicals in everyday products.

"The work of WWF in looking into toxins in adults and children is both groundbreaking and very disturbing in its findings," she said.

"This information needs to be presented to the decision makers in the European Parliament.

"The truth is we know so little about how many of these chemicals effect our bodies individually or as a cocktail of dangerous contaminants. We as individuals are unable to control whether or not these chemicals enter our bodies.

"We owe it to our children to adopt precautionary principles in the release of chemicals into the environment.

"We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help protect the health of current and future generations and this is the message we will be carrying to the MEPs."

It is the second time in 10 months that Miss Williams, who works at University College Worcester, has visited the European Parliament to discuss the proposals for the REACH legislation.