§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is prepared to follow a precedent set up by his predecessor, as described in this House on 8th April, 1902, by ordering all vaccine or virus now in stock to be destroyed and take steps to enforce the use of cow-pox virus only, as contemplated by the Vaccination Acts, seeing that the vaccine which failed to protect the members of the crew of His Majesty's ship "Conqueror" was derived from a secret unidentified strain of virus obtained from Cologne, and that there appears to be no means of ascertaining whether such original foreign virus was free from variolous taint, in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of the Vaccination Act, 1867?
§ Mr. BURNSIn the case referred to as a precedent, the lymph destroyed was not lymph prepared or issued by the vaccine establishment of the Local Government Board. The lymph obtained from Cologne was a sample of the current lymph of the vaccine institute of that town. During the six years since it was received a large series of calves has been vaccinated with lymph derived from this source, and the lymph from them has been used for a very large number of successful vaccinations. I see no reason for adopting the course proposed by my hon. Friend.