HC Deb 29 November 1965 vol 721 cc982-4
8. Dr. Summerskill

asked the Minister of Health if he will withdraw contraceptive pills from general circulation until the investigation of the Dunlop Committee into their possible side-effects has been completed.

Mr. K. Robinson

I see no ground for asking the manufacturers to do this. The Committee has recently advised that, after reviewing the available evidence, it does not feel justified in objecting to the marketing of oral contraceptives.

Dr. Summerskill

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that the Interim Report of the Dunlop Committee did not exclude the serious possibility that these drugs may be having serious side-effects? Does he not therefore consider it wise to withdraw them from circulation until a definite verdict has been arrived at?

Mr. Robinson

No, Sir, the Committee is, of course, continuing to watch this position closely, and if it thinks that any further advice is desirable, it will, no doubt, give it. It discovered that there had been 16 deaths due to thrombo-embolic episodes in women taking oral contraceptives in the year ending 31st August. It estimated that the figure of 400,000 represented the number of women who had been taking them with reasonable regularity during that time and the official mortality figures indicated that 13 out of a similar number would normally have been expected to have died from the same cause.

Sir Knox Cunningham

Has the Minister any evidence that sterility has been caused by taking these pills?

Mr. Robinson

No, Sir.

Dr. David Kerr

Would my right hon. Friend make it plain that the benefits derived from the widespread use of the pills at the moment clearly outweigh any risk of danger?

Mr. Robinson

Certainly, I should have thought that the benefits are self-evident.

Mr. McNair-Wilson

Would the Minister not agree that there is some evidence that if these pills are taken over a very long period the possible danger increases? Is this not something upon which women should be reassured by some evidence which the Dunlop Committee can look into?

Mr. Robinson

I can assure the hon. Gentleman and the House that the Dunlop Committee is very alive to all the possibilities and is looking into them as a matter of urgency.