Bronchitis (Hansard, 17 February 1964)

§ 5. Mr. O'Malley
asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he will institute an inquiry into the incidence of chronic bronchitis among workers in steel manufacture with a view to the scheduling of this condition as an industrial disease in the steel industry.

§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance (Lieut.-Commander S. L. C. Maydon)
No, Sir.

§ Mr. O'Malley
Is the hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that, while the Steel Confederation is and has been for a long time concerned at the high incidence of bronchitis among steel workers, the Ministry of Health is at present spending nothing on research in this direction? Is he further aware that the Nuffield Foundation recently made a grant towards an inquiry into the incidence and other aspects of this disease, and will he consider again with his right hon. Friend the Minister of Health the possibility of making bronchitis a notifiable disease?

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
Naturally, I do not draw the line at conversations with any reputable body about this matter. We keep a close watch on the results of current research into bronchitis and we study its implications for prescription, but the present trend of findings is increasingly to implicate non-occupational factors as the origin of this disease.

§ Sir B. Stross
Is the Joint Parliamentary Secretary aware that everyone who has been associated with steelworkers, particularly those who work in a very hot atmosphere, has noted that a great many of them suffer from chronic bronchitis, complicated by emphysema, and that the Answer he gave to both the main Question and my hon. Friend's supplementary question is the type of answer which we have been receiving for the last 20 years and that we are tired of hearing it?

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
I understand that the consensus of informed medical opinion is that the most important causes of bronchitis are personal and social factors, such as smoking and air pollution.

§ Mr. Mitchison
Is the incidence in this industry any higher than in the population as a whole, and, if it is, is there not a case for an inquiry?

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
As the hon. and learned Gentleman knows, the questions of incidence and connection are both relevant to Section 55(2) of the Industrial Injuries Act and, as that Act stands, on present knowledge chronic bronchitis does not satisfy the conditions of that Section.

§ 10. Mr. Dalyell
asked the Minister of Pension and National Insurance if he will set up an inquiry into the incidence 821 of chronic bronchitis among coal miners with a view to the scheduling of this condition as an industrial disease in the coal industry.

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
No, Sir.

§ Mr. Dalyell
Is it by chance that the incidence of chronic bronchitis among coal miners is thought to be non-occupational?

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
Incidence is only one of the factors to be considered in deciding whether a particular disease satisfies the tests for prescription under the Industrial Injuries Act.

§ Miss Herbison
Is the Joint Parliamentary Secretary aware that his Answers to this and Question No. 5 are both most unsatisfactory? Is he not aware that often those who are working in coal mines and steel works suffer from bronchitis, and that even when pneumoconiosis is diagnosed and payment under the Industrial Injuries Act is made no account is taken of the fact that the man may also have bronchitis and emphysema? Will he not do something to find out the connection between these three diseases so that workers in the steel and mining industries may have justice done to them?

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
I am afraid that the hon. Lady is mistaken in the last part of her supplementary question. Where those two other diseases are present in a man who is known to be a pneumoconiotic and they contribute to his disability, account is taken of that in his assessment.

§ Sir B. Stross
Is the Joint Parliamentary Secretary aware that pulmonary disability, from whatever cause it comes, is recognised as such, and compensation is paid for it, to gold miners in the South African goldfields—to white gold miners at any rate? This being so, why cannot this country, so far advanced as we should expect to be, ensure that men who inhale an irritating dust all their working lives, who are X-rayed before they are allowed to enter the industry and are then known to be in good health, get the benefit of the doubt if they fail in health later?

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
I remember the hon. Gentleman referring last year 822 to the position of these sufferers in South Africa and other overseas countries, and at that time I certainly inquired into what was happening in those countries. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the matter is not on all fours with what is happening in this country.

§ Mr. Mitchison
If the incidence is a relevant factor, is it not both common sense and the Minister's duty to investigate it where it is above the average?

§ Lieut.-Commander Maydon
As the hon. and learned Gentleman knows, this has been investigated in the past and is always open to fresh investigation. In fact, research is going on at the moment.