§ Mr. Whiteheadasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what figures are now available to her Department concerning the incidence of Huntington's chorea in Great Britain.
§ Dr. OwenI regret that there are no statistics of the incidence of Hunting-ton's chorea in Great Britain but I understand that the number of people suffering from it is believed to be some 3,000.
§ Mr. Whiteheadasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether circulars are available from her Department instructing area health authorities in the prompt registration of sufferers from Huntington's chorea.
§ Dr. OwenNo instructions have been issued by the Department to health authorities about the registration of sufferers from Huntington's chorea. We are, however, currently considering, in consultation with the Clinical Genetics Society, ways in which genetic counselling services might be more effectively provided for potential sufferers from this disease, including the expansion of existing schemes for the registration of known sufferers.
§ Mr. Whiteheadasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the amount of Government-sponsored research into Huntington's chorea in 1972, 1973 and 1974, respectively.
§ Dr. OwenA wide range of basic neurological work which could advance360W the knowledge of the nature of Huntington's chorea is being promoted by the Medical Research Council. The major part of the research programme at the MRC Neurochemical Pharmacology Unit is concerned with studies of the biochemical changes underlying the disease; while other biomedical investigations are in progress at the MRC Brain Metabolism Unit and in the Division of Molecular Pharmacology at the National Institute of Medical Research. The Department of Social Medicine at Edinburgh University is engaged on a project of the incidence and family distribution of the disease. The Department is also supporting from its own research funds a project in the NHS on various aspects of the disease. The greater part of this research forms part of basic research programmes and costs relating specifically to the disease are not available.