HL Deb 12 July 1973 vol 344 cc821-3
LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGH

My 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, in view of the inconvenience and possible danger to health of licking stamps, they will encourage the Post Office to introduce some form of self-sticking stamps.

LORD DENHAM

My Lords, this is a matter for the Post Office, but I am told that it has on several occasions sought medical opinion on this point and has consistently been advised that the practice of licking stamps entails little or no risk to health.

LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGH

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that reply, may I ask him whether he is aware that there is in existence a process whereby minute globules of plastic containing sticking stuff are put on the back of stamps, and if you press it between finger and thumb it automatically sticks? Would that not be more convenient, quite apart from the health hazard? No matter what the noble Lord has been informed, may I ask him whether it is not a fact that many of the virus and bacteriological diseases can be spread in this way, particularly hepatitis A and B—B being the Australian one and therefore the most obnoxious?

LORD DENHAM

My Lords, it is quite possible to use a sponge instead of licking stamps; indeed, every post office provides one for the use of its customers. With regard to the convenience of the stamps. I understand that self-adhesive ones would cause a great deal more inconvenience. They would be very much more bulky to store and it would be rather more difficult to put a number of stamps on letters, because it would be necessary to peel off the adhesive backing. I understand that no major postal administration uses self-adhesive stamps. There have been such stamps issued in Tonga and Bhutan, but I understand that in both cases they were sold as philatelic curiosities rather than as a means of prepaying postage.

LORD STRABOLGI

My Lords, is it true that these self-adhesive stamps are three times as costly to produce?

LORD DENHAM

My Lords, I believe that they are one and a half times as costly.

LORD BURNTWOOD

My Lords, what medical opinion has been offered to the Minister to suggest that loose stamps, which may be handled by a number of postal assistants and handed over a counter that may not be very clean, and which are then licked by the purchaser, are free from bacteria?

LORD DENHAM

My Lords, of course it entirely depends upon who handles the stamps and where they have been. If you drop a stamp in the road and then pick it up and lick it, it will no doubt cause harm.

LORD SEGAL

My Lords, can the Government consider reducing the potential risk to Members of this House by providing official paid envelopes for official correspondence?

LORD DENHAM

That is a wider question, my Lords.

LORD AMULREE

My Lords, can the noble Lord say whether there is any medical evidence at all that any sickness has been caused to anybody by the licking of stamps?

LORD DENHAM

My Lords, certainly not from the actual process of licking the gum. I suppose there is a possibility that if stamps are badly handled, or mishandled, germs can pass in that way.

LORD HALE

My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord to recall that many of those who said they would not lick Lloyd George's stamps still happily survive, and are calling to collect benefit?

LORD BYERS

My Lords, will the Minister agree that he has a good story and that he ought to stick to it?

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the worst case of gingivitis that I have ever seen was in a woman who had licked all the stamps for her Christmas mail?

LORD DENHAM

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for that information.

BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGER

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the Chinese people solved this problem by producing stamps which are neither self-adhesive nor equipped with gum, with the result that a person wishing to send a letter or a postcard has to provide his own gum, with the further consequence that there is a very strong probability that letters will get stuck together since the gum spreads around the edges? Would he like to recommend that to the Post Office?

LORD DENHAM

My Lords, I do not think any of your Lordships would be glad if I recommended that to the Post Office.

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