§ 4.15 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, in moving that the House do resolve itself into Committee on this Bill, I should like to make a short statement arising out of a question which was put to me during the course of the Second Reading. It has reference to streptomycin and its introduction aboard ship. The only substance other than penicillin at present covered by the Penicillin Act is streptomycin, which was brought under the Act by regulation. It would be possible under the Bill for instructions as to its use to be incorporated in the ships captains' Medical Guide and for streptomycin to be carried on ships without a doctor. At the present time the Health Departments and the Ministry of Transport are not medically advised that streptomycin should be carried in this way, and it is not, therefore, the present intention that it should be. Should any other substance 658 in future be brought by regulation within the ambit of the Penicillin Act, 1947, instructions for the use of such a substance could be included in the Guide if medical advice indicated that such a course was desirable, and the substance could be carried on ships without a doctor. I beg to move that the House do resolve itself into Committee.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(Lord Shepherd.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [THE EARL OF DROGHEDA in the Chair]
§ Bill reported without Amendment.
§ House resumed.