§ LORD AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
What offer has been made by the Prime Minister to the President of the United States regarding co-operation in the intensive search to find a cure for cancer; what request has been made to the Medical Research Council to explore possible avenues for increased co-operative activity in this field; and what additional money has been allocated to the M.R.C. by the Department of Health and Social Security in the year 1971–72 to cover the cost of these co-operative activities.
§ LORD BELSTEADIn his reply last year to the President's call for an intensive campaign to find a cure for cancer, the Prime Minister mentioned that he had asked the Medical Research Council to explore all possible opportunities for increasing co-operation in this field, both bilaterally and as appropriate through the International Agency for Research on Cancer at Lyons. As a result the Coordinating Committee on Cancer Research, which includes representatives of the M.R.C., the Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, has kept in touch with the development of the expanding cancer research programme in the United States and is advising its sponsoring bodies on the implications of these developments and the ways in which further collaboration might be achieved. The M.R.C.386WA continues to maintain the close links which it has had in the past with the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It has also been authorised this year to make a special contribution towards equipment for the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The M.R.C. receives its grant-in-aid through the Department of Education and Science and has received no additional funds from the Department of Health and Social Security for cancer research.