§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health, in view of the deaths, injuries and paralysis that have already occurred to children injected with the vaccine obtained from the kidneys of the corpses of monkeys for the alleged cure of poliomyelitis, if he will prohibit all further experiments on children in the country by this method; and if he will give an assurance that children will only undergo this injection after the authorities have obtained the parents prior consent in writing.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodNaturally the recently reported events in America are being fully considered by the Medical Research Council, and a member of their staff is going over there immediately to get first-hand information. This should be ready for study here before the routine safety tests, now being conducted on batches of vaccine, are finished and therefore before any of the proposed trials on children over here are due to begin. Meanwhile arrangements for these trials continue. I can certainly assure the hon. Member that there is no intention of inoculating any child unless the full consent of the parents has been first obtained.