42. Mrs. Butlerasked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science what periodic review he makes of the effects on health of methods of processing foods, tobacco and other materials.
90W
§ Mr. Denzil FreethThe relationships between health and various aspects of food processing are kept under review by several committees for which my right hon. Friends the Ministers of Health and of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Scotland have the main responsibility.
Basic research on toxicology, including the effects of additives and other substances in food, is carried out by the British Industrial Biological Research Association, which is grant-aided by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and by units of the Medical Research Council. The possible effects of additives or contaminants in tobacco have been taken into account by the M.R.C. in their studies of the connection between smoking and lung cancer.