§ Mr. CLANCYasked the Chief Secretary whether the use of arm-to-arm lymph is largely resorted to by certain doctors in Ireland; if so, whether the Local Government Board for Ireland have sanctioned this practice or taken any steps to put an end to it; and, if not, whether, in view of the use of arm-to-arm lymph having been emphatically condemned by the Royal Commission on Vaccination, the Board will now take any action in this matter?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. In the year ended 31st March, 1911, the Poor Law medical officers in Ireland, as public vaccinators performed upwards of 80,000 successful vaccinations, for which purpose they requisitioned and procured from the Vaccine Department of the Local Government Board 115,000 tubes of Glycerinated calf lymph. As each tube contains sufficient lymph for at least one vaccination1670W it is obvious that humanised lymph could only have been used in a few odd cases. The Local Government Board distribute gratuitously the requisite supplies of glycerinated calf lymph for public vaccinations, and so far as they are aware no further action is necessary on their part to secure the universal use of this form of lymph in Ireland.
§ Mr. CLANCYasked whether, while in England the Local Government Board insist on the killing of the calves used for obtaining vaccine lymph and the holding of a post-mortem examination of them as the only conclusive test for tuberculosis, in Ireland the calves used for vaccination purposes are not killed, but sold after having been so used; if so, what real guarantee is there as to the purity of the calf lymph used in Ireland; and, if there is none, whether the Local Government Board for Ireland propose to take any action in the matter?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the question on this subject asked by the hon. Member for South Dublin on 29th February.