A STOURPORT woman who underwent chemical contamination tests with her family was among campaigners who lobbied the European Parliament.

Beth Williams, an ecology lecturer, joined a delegation of Worldwide Fund for Nature staff and Women's Institute members who travelled to Brussels on a double-decker bus filled with hazardous chemicals last week.

They handed over a petition with more than 77,000 signatures to the Parliament calling for several chemicals contained in everyday household products to be banned under new legislation designed to regulate industrial chemicals.

Miss Williams, her partner, Andrew Sharkey and their children, Seamus and Connie, of Worcester Road, Stourport, had blood samples taken last year in a WWF experiment to examine the dangers of chemicals in household products.

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

"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 affect 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 was the second time in 10 months Miss Williams, who works at University College Worcester, had visited the European Parliament to discuss the legislation.