§ LORD STRANGEasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether there has been an increase of venereal disease since the introduction of oral contraceptives and whether either of the principal varieties of venereal disease have mutated and changed their form so that the previous established methods of treatment are now ineffectual.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY (BARONESS SEROTA)Known cases of gonorrhoœa in England and Wales were increasing rapidly from 1955 to 1961 before the oral contraceptives were available. Since then the numbers have fluctuated but in general have risen, though less steeply. The numbers of cases of early syphilis increased slightly from 1959 to 1965 but have fallen in the two subsequent years. Full details of the latest available figures are published in the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health for 1967. Some strains of the organism which causes gonorrhoœa are known to have developed increased resistance to the remedies generally used, but most are still susceptible.