§ Sir GEORGE GREENWOODasked the Home Secretary whether the experiments 986W upon living animals with chlorine gas, performed by Dr. Flack in the laboratory of the Medical Research Committee between the 2nd and 22nd July, 1915, were paid for by moneys provided by Parliament out of the general taxation of the country under the National Insurance Act; whether his attention has been called to the nature of these experiments as reported in the "British Medical Journal" of 4th December, 1915; whether such experiments are correctly described in the Annual Returns as experiments in the nature of simple inoculations, hypodermic injections, and similar proceedings, and as experiments not involving a serious operation; whether they were performed under a scheme of medical research prepared by the Medical Research Committee under the National Insurance Act; and whether he will lay a copy of any such scheme upon the Table of the House?
§ Mr. BRACEWith regard to the first part of the question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by the hon. Member for Lincoln on the 12th instant. The Home Secretary's attention has been called to the experiments mentioned in the question. Twelve of the experiments were performed under Certificate A. They were inhalation experiments, and did not involve any operation at all. They were properly included, therefore, in Table II. B of the Return. The other experiments, six in number, are included in Table II.A, as they were performed under licence alone, and the animals were therefore anæsthetised during the whole of the experiment. The concluding part of the question relates to matters which do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Home Office, and should be addressed to the hon. Member for Lincoln as representing the National Health Insurance Commission.
§ Sir G. GREENWOODasked the Home Secretary what was the total sum expended on experiments on living animals during the year 1915 from moneys provided by Parliament out of the general taxation of the country under the National Insurance Act?
§ Mr. C. ROBERTSNo experiments of the nature referred to are separately provided for; and it is (necessarily and inherently) quite impossible to analyse the expenditure of the Committee, or of the fund, in a manner that would show separately what proportions of regular expenditure may be regarded as due to any particular portions of the daily work done.
987W
§ Sir G. GREENWOODasked the Home Secretary whether the experiments upon living animals with chlorine gas, performed by Dr. Flack in the laboratory of the Medical Research Committee between the 2nd and 22nd July, 1915, were paid for by moneys provided by Parliament out of the general taxation of the country under the National Insurance Act; whether his attention has been called to the nature of these experiments, as reported in the "British Medical Journal" of 4th December, 1915; whether such experiments are correctly described in the Annual Returns as experiments in the nature of simple inoculations, hypodermic injections, and similar proceedings, and as experiments not involving a serious operation; whether they were performed under a scheme of medical research prepared by the Medical Research Committee under the National Insurance Act; and whether he will lay a copy of any such scheme upon the Table of the House?
§ Mr. ROBERTSThe answers to the first, second and third paragraphs of the question are in the affirmative. In reply to the fourth paragraph I may say that schemes approved by the Chairman of the Joint Committee under Section 7 (1) of the Regulations would not include details of the particular manner in which, or the particular experiments by help of which, a given scheme of research is to be carried out. In the present case the work was sanctioned as a piece of research which was necessary for the solution of certain medical questions of immediate national urgency in the War conditions of July, 1915, but which was also likely to produce knowledge of the greatest value in medical work for the civil population. In reply to the fifth paragraph, I would refer the hon. Member to paragraph (f) on page 20 of the Report of the Committee for 1914–15, presented to Parliament last year. Cd. 8101.
§ Sir G. GREENWOODasked the Home Secretary if he will who are the auditors appointed by the Treasury to audit the accounts of the Medical Research Fund and the Medical Research Committee, respectively, as provided by the Statutory Rules and Orders under the National Insurance Act; and whether such accounts are published or open to inspection by the public?
§ Mr. ROBERTSEach of the accounts referred to is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General. The hon. Member988W will find the published figures in the Annual Appropriation Accounts of the Vote for the National Health Insurance Joint Committee presented every year to Parliament.