§ 44 and 45. Dr. J. H. WILLIAMSasked the Home Secretary (1) whether his Department has published reports of cases of anthracosis; and whether a list of persons declared to have suffered from this complaint is available at the Home Office;
567 (2) whether he has any evidence that anthracosis is due to special conditions obtaining in the anthracite coalfield; and whether he is prepared to include it in the list of occupational diseases which can be scheduled for the purposes of the Workmen's Compensation Act?
§ Mr. SHORTThe reply to both parts of the first question is in the negative. The investigation of the effects of coal dust on the lungs has been referred to the Expert Committee on the Industrial Pulmonary Diseases, which was recently set up at my right hon. Friend's request by the Medical Research Council, but it has yet to be established that the condition of the lungs described as anthracosis is the cause of disablement, and meanwhile it would not be possible to bring it within the scope of the Workmen's Compensation Act. I am advised that there is some evidence of special changes in the lungs due to the conditions in the anthracite coalfield, but this is a point which will need further investigation.