POSSIBLE chemical and biological terrorist attacks and viruses such as Norwalk are to be dealt with by a new Health Protection Agency (HPA) based in York.

Discussions are due to take place in the city tomorrow about the implementation of the HPA, which will protect North Yorkshire and will bring together existing public health and research laboratories.

The agency, which will be established as a Special Health Authority from April 1 and become a non-departmental public body from April 2004, aims to provide more effective services for communicable disease control, chemical and radiation hazards and for health emergency planning.

A report to board members of the North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority, which must ensure appropriate major incident plans are established by NHS organisations in its area, says that the period of transition to the new agency has been controlled despite the emergence of several major health issues.

It states: "The period has been one of intense activity in health protection not only due to heightened concerns about potential chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents but also due to a substantial number of communicable disease incidents and especially the outbreaks associated with Norwalk type viruses."

The meeting takes place after NHS doctors across the country were warned of the symptoms of Ricin poisoning after traces of the toxin were discovered in a flat in London last week - compounding fears that the UK was at risk from biological terrorist attacks.

There have also been a number of outbreaks of the easily-spread Norwalk virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, at York Hospital and nursing and residential homes in the city.

A spokesman for the Selby and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) said that warnings were issued regularly in the interests of public health and safety, but did not mean that the York area, or anywhere else, was at increased risk.

He said: "Lots of departments are merging to form a new organisation called the Health Protection Agency, including public health laboratories, which were set up in the 1950s to deal with chemical incidents, not just through terrorism, but through chemical spills.

"This is not a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11, it has been in the pipeline for some time.

"The HPA will deal with all health protection issues whether its to do with meningitis, the MMR jab or communicable diseases.

"All PCTs have emergency plans and they are always being looked at to see if they are robust enough to stand up to whatever and alerts are given out all the time which might be of benefit to GPs."

The public meeting takes place at 10am tomorrow in the meeting room of the Strategic Health Authority offices at The Innovation Centre, Innovation Way, York Science Park, Heslington, York.

Updated: 11:27 Monday, January 13, 2003