§ 3.16 p.m.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware that the Soviet Minister of Health, Dr. Petrovski, stated recently to a group of Western science journalists in Moscow, that he had decided not to allow the use of the contraceptive pill in the Soviet Union, because he was not satisfied that it does not carry risks to the mother.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS (LORD BESWICK)My Lords, the Minister of Health has seen the Press report of the meeting to which the noble Baroness refers, but has had no further detailed information. The report does not indicate that the Soviet Union decision is based on original research in that country. It is noted that Dr. Petrovski also stated that women can obtain abortions in the Soviet Union with little difficulty. The advice tendered to Her Majesty's Government on the use of oral contraceptives is based on experience gained by investigators in this and other countries where these preparations have been in use for a number of years and have been subject to careful tests.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, in view of the fact that the Minister of Heath of the Soviet Union is an eminent doctor, and having regard to the fact that yesterday during our debate on technology tributes were paid to the research work of the Soviet Union, can we afford to ignore this decision of the Soviet Union? May I ask the noble Lord whether he has also read the latest information from the United States of America in which the University of Cleveland's medical centre, which has a big neurological unit, has said that a number of women suffering from migraine who have developed serious side effects of temporary blindness and permanent paralysis have been discovered to have been taking the contraceptive pill? Why, 1026 may I ask my noble friend, in view of the fact that there are alternative methods, intoduce this method into our clinics?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am sure we shall all agree with what the noble Baroness has said about the eminence of Dr. Petrovski in his field of medicine. On the other hand, it does seem from what he himself has said that he is relying upon reports, and indeed what he described as literature, from other countries when talking about the decision of the Soviet Union not to permit the use of oral contraceptives in that country. Moreover, it is fair also to assume from what he said that in that country the practice of abortion is relied upon rather more than the practice of contraception. As far as the second part of the noble Baroness's question is concerned, the existence of the report to which she called our attention is known, and the information in that report, together with other information acquired in other universities and from other experiments, is taken into account by the Committee on the Safety of Drugs.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I realise that my noble friend is a little out of his depth in this matter, but I am afraid he has been misinformed. I am being kind to my noble friend. I noted that he was rather hesitant; that is why I dared to say this. Is he aware that what Dr. Petrovski did say was that he, quite rightly, had read all the literature of other countries—and he is to be congratulated for that, not criticised—and that, having read the literature of all other countries, he found that in every country there were doctors of the highest eminence who would not approve the contraceptive pill? May I also ask my noble friend, on the point about abortion, whether he is aware that abortion on demand was refused in the Soviet Union many years ago, and their approach to abortion is similar to that to be embodied in the Bill which is shortly to come before your Lordships' House.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, may I readily confess to my noble friend that, so far as the practice of taking this particular preparation is concerned, I am completely out of my depth. With regard to what Dr. Petrovski actually said, I read from the report of his speech, which 1027 I believe my noble friend has already seen:
I study all the literature about the oral contraceptive question, and I note that there is not a single country in which oral contraceptives arc regarded as absolutely safe".That, of course, is something which I have said repeatedly in this House. They are not absolutely safe, but the information of our Minister of Health's advisers is that the risk is not greater than that to which a woman going to full-term pregnancy is submitted. On the noble Lady's second point on abortion—and I agree again that I am not an expert—I am relying on what Dr. Petrovski said, and I quote:Women can obtain abortion here with little difficulty.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, may I just repeat the other question: that of women and childbirth? Surely my noble friend will agree with me that there is no analogy between childbirth and contraception, because a woman may be pregnant only for 18 months of her life, but she may be taking contraceptives for 30 years of her life?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, what my noble friend has said about the long-term effects of this preparation is, I think, absolutely unchallengeable. Although the risk to a woman taking the pill is, so far as thrombosis is concerned, only half that to which a woman is subject when she takes child-bearing to the full term, nevertheless it is a fact that we are, as yet, ignorant of what the effects of taking the drug over a period of 30 years may be. The Committee on the Safety of Drugs and the College of General Practitioners have this problem of toxicity much in mind, and it is hoped that a more careful study can be made of the long-term effects.
§ BARONESS GAITSKELLMy Lords, may I ask the Minister one question; namely, are we going to have the Soviet Minister of Health to advise us in this country, or our own Minister of Health?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I should have thought, with all respect to my noble friend, that what we really want to do is to take into account all possible information upon what is a serious matter.