§ 49. Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what research is being conducted into the toxicity of freons now widely used as the dispersant gas in aerosol sprays and into halothane, in view of the deaths that have resulted from use of these chlorinated hydrocarbons.
§ Mrs. ThatcherStudies on the toxicity of freons have been carried out by the Medical Research Council Group in Clinical Pharmacology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London, and in university centres and industry both in this country and abroad. Investigations into the possible toxic effects of halothane are being carried out in university centres and teaching hospitals. The Medical Research Council is supporting a study of post-operative hepatitis with particular reference to halothane hypersensitivity at the London Hospital Medical College; and it has recently84W awarded a grant for a study on halo-thane pollution in operating theatres in Birmingham. Similar studies are also being carried out in the division of anaesthesia at the council's clinical research centre.