§ 3.5 p.m.
Earl Baldwin of Bewdleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to promote research into the environmental causes of cancer.
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, the Medical Research Council recently launched a joint initiative with the Natural Environment Research Council on environment and health which clearly includes cancer research. The MRC also supports research through its "Health of the public" initiative. The Department of Health also funds research which includes investigating the association between cancer and exposure to radiation and chemicals in the environment. The department's expert committees advise on the carcinogenic risks associated with environmental factors and encourage further research in areas of concern.
Earl Baldwin of BewdleyMy Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his quite encouraging reply. I am not sure whether it represents an actual improvement on what I gleaned from a Written Answer to a Question of mine last May showing that government sponsored research into carcinogenic chemicals in the environment accounted for barely 2 per cent of the cancer research budget. Does the noble Lord agree that at a time of quite legitimate concern about, for example, pesticides such as lindane, toxic landfills, dietary fats and various types of hair dyes, not to mention the electronic smog in which we all live nowadays, an even greater emphasis on cancer prevention is overdue?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, it is true that our present estimates of the proportion of cancer research related to the environment are rather higher than the figures given to the noble Earl in May this year. I suspect that that is because we are better at attributing and ascribing research rather than that there is a secular increase, so to speak, in the amount 720 of this kind of research being undertaken. The noble Earl is right. The wide variety of environmental risks justifies very great emphasis on research into the environmental causes of cancer, but in order to do that we have to have put forward scientifically justified proposals.
§ Lord Clement-JonesMy Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord McIntosh, on his versatility in adding health questions to his portfolio. In welcoming the appointment of Professor Mike Richards as national cancer care director, would the Minister care to give his reaction to the recent rather chilling comments of Professor Gordon McVie, director-general of the Cancer Research Campaign? He said that,
the NHS cannot keep up with progress in cancer research".Should not Professor Richards also have the resources for, and the responsibility of, a co-ordinating role for cancer research to ensure that the NHS can cope?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, I am answering this Question because the research councils, including the Medical Research Council, are responsible to the Department of Trade and Industry rather than the Department of Health. It is true that Professor Richards will be concerned with cancer research although his immediate problems, as he described them on his appointment, are more to do with staffing. But improved cancer research, in particular relating to the environment, will not necessarily cause increased liabilities on the National Health Service. A good deal of effective research will cause savings to the National Health Service.
§ Baroness Masham of IItonMy Lords, is the Minister aware that in some rural areas there are pockets of leukaemia? And how much research is being undertaken on farm fertilisers and pesticides?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, a great deal of research is being carried out on farm fertilisers and pesticides. However, most of that is concerned with the more immediate effects of peripheral nerve function rather than with cancer. I note what the noble Baroness says about leukaemia. I have no doubt that the authorities will pay attention to her remarks.
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, did I understand the Minister to say that the Medical Research Council is responsible to the Department of Trade and Industry and not to the Department of Health? If so, are the criteria for the funding of the council different from those controlling the funding of other more commercial organisations by the department?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, all the research councils, including the Medical Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council, to which I referred, report to the Department of Trade and Industry and they all have comparable funding arrangements.
§ Lord McNairMy Lords, although there are regular announcements of hope and optimism from the 721 charities which research drugs for the treatment of cancer, is the Minister aware that the many proven holistic methods of treating cancer would, if adopted, save the NE-IS a fortune?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, if the noble Lord is suggesting that the Medical Research Council has set its face against the investigation of complementary medicine, I have to say to him that that is not the case. Perhaps I may give a recent example. Clinical trials on lower back pain have been set up to compare the effectiveness of traditional medicine, chiropractic and acupuncture. There is no presumption against complementary medicine in the research decisions of the Medical Research Council.
Earl Baldwin of BewdleyMy Lords, does the noble Lord agree that the priorities might change if there were more patients on research committees? Does he agree with the leading US breast cancer researcher who said, "If the world were run by women, we would work on prevention"?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, of course, the more people, the more users, involved in decisions, the more likelihood of better priorities. That is one reason why the 10 Downing Street seminar of January this year made the Medical Research Council responsible for setting up a cancer research funders' group which will provide the co-ordination sought by the noble Earl.