§ 2.30 p.m.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will follow the example of the United States Food and Drug Administration, who plan to ask manufacturers of contraceptive pills to relabel them showing that the pills could cause potentially fatal blood clots in some women.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (LORD KENNET)My Lords, the Government do not think that this would be the best method of conveying information to patients and doctors about the risks of taking oral contraceptives. As the noble Baroness is aware, in this country oral contraceptives are available only if supplied or prescribed by a doctor whose professional responsibility it is to give any advice or warnings he considers necessary to the patient concerned.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that it was the United States Food and Drug Administration which prevented the pharmaceutical industry of the United States from distributing thalidomide to doctors because they believed that it was dangerous; and this despite the loud protests of the pharmaceutical industry? Is my noble friend also aware that in consequence of that action no deformed baby was born in the United States as a result of thalidomide? Could we not well follow their example on this occasion?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, the supplementary question put by the noble Baroness is addressed to another point on which she asked a Question the other day; namely the forbidding of the sale of these preparations. At that time I gave her some statistics about the risks involved and said that the Government accepted the advice of the relevant Advisory Committee that it would not be justifiable to prevent the sale of these pills. To-day, her Question is addressed to the necessity or otherwise of labelling the package.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that last week I tried to prevent the sale of those contraceptive pills? Their sale is prevented in the Soviet Union, where there are excellent scientists. Not having succeeded last week in my object of preventing the sale, may I ask the noble Lord whether he is aware that the next best thing is to do what is being done in the United States of America, that is, to put a warning on the package?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, if the Government thought it was a good thing to do, they would do it, but they consider that the best way to get the necessary public awareness of the risks which exist to the women taking these pills is through the doctors.
§ BARONESS GAITSKELLMy Lords, would not the Minister agree that, in the controversy about the contraceptive pill, despite the gloomy forebodings of my noble friend it is just conceivable that some women would opt for a short life and a merry one?
§ LORD VIVIANMy Lords, may I ask Her Majesty's Government whether, through the same medium as that suggested by the noble Baroness, they will be prepared to warn intending mothers of the risks they run in regard to not having a completely normal pregnancy and normal development of the fœtus after taking these contraceptive pills for a considerable time? Are Her Majesty's Government aware that these contraceptive pills are suspect in the United States of America, in several European countries and in Cyprus, where the reason for gynæcologists' not prescribing them is that stated by the noble Baroness, Lady Summerskill, together with the reasons I have mentioned, and not on religious or moral grounds?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, the noble Lord has asked rather a lot of questions, and I am afraid I could not give the answer to all of them because they are all wrapped up in one sentence. But perhaps I should make the point that the risks of pregnancy and childbirth have been pretty well known to human kind for a considerable time. We are dealing now with a risk that has only recently become apparent.
§ LORD ALPORTMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord on whose advice the decision has been reached? Have women's organisations been asked, and, if so, what advice have they given?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, the advice received by Her Majesty's Government has come from the Committee on the Safety of Drugs.