§ Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, before consideration is given to any prohibition of the sale of household medicines from grocery shops by staff or self-service sales methods, she will make a full assessment of the effect of such a regulation on public convenience, particularly in rural areas.
§ Dr. OwenI am awaiting advice from the Medicines Commission with regard to representations made by trade and professional organisations about the recommendations in the commission's Report on a General Sale List of Medicinal Products for Human Use, published for comment in the summer of 1973, bearing on the range of products that should be sold elsewhere than at pharmacies, and on the conditions under which such products should be sold, either at pharmacies or elsewhere. Until the commission has given its advice it would be premature to consider whether a study of the kind described is desirable.