§ Lord HALEasked Her Majesty's Government:
To state what further medical research is being conducted to ascertain the extent of the connection between dust in the lung diseases and lung cancer and what results have been obtained.
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§ THE MINISTER OF STATE SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD HUGHES)Asbestosis is the only dust in the lung disease known to be connected with lung cancer in this country. The Employment Medical Advisory Service of the Department of Employment is carrying out an asbestos survey which resulted from a Memorandum on Problems arising from the use of Asbestos published by the Senior Medical Inspector's Advisory Panel in 1968.
The survey was planned in three stages with the general objectives of evaluating the results of medical surveillance by means of epidemiological research into the medical effects of asbestos exposure and measuring the effectivenes of dust control methods. The first stage was a review, completed in 1971, of information that had already been collected by Pneumoconiosis Medical Panels of the Department of Health and Social Security in respect of about 100 workers who had been under continuous surveillance for 10 years or more. The second stage organised a unified approach by Works Medical Officers to the medical supervision of about 7,000 asbestos workers in the major manufacturers and users and the third stage begun earlier this year extends this approach to the remaining asbestos workers covered by the Asbestos Regulations (1969), of whom it is estimated there are 8,000. It is as yet too early to draw conclusions, but the data will be studied as it becomes available and should amongst other things reveal what relationship there is between dust exposure, lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura, and between asbestosis and these two conditions.
The Employment Medical Advisory Service is also undertaking surveys of respiratory diseases in other industries which include examining the incidence of cancer, while research into dust diseases, including the carcinogenic effects of asbestos, is being carried out both by the Medical Research Council's Pneumoconiosis Unit supported by the Department of Employment through the transferred fund mechanism and by scientific workers in other centres with grants awarded by the Council. Additionally, the Employment Medical Advisory Service is discussing with the Medical 1391WA Research Council approaches to the early identification of substances likely to produce carcinogenic effects in man.