§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many persons are known to be suffering from ill health through glue-sniffing or other forms of solvent abuse; and what are the ages of such persons.
§ Mr. John Patten[pursuant to his reply, 24 January 1984, c. 557]: Reports in the United Kingdom medical literature are few, and suggest serious ill health associated with solvent misuse is uncommon. There would be very great practical difficulties in systematically collecting reliable information. Solvent misuse is not a disease. The identifying diagnosis of misusers coming to the attention of clinicians would relate to symptoms arising from solvent misuse—for example, acne or one of the chest disorders. Moreover, statistics on the reasons for attendance at accident and emergency departments—amounting to 35 million a year—are not kept centrally, nor do general practitioners maintain statistics of the presenting problems of the patients they see.