§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now make emphysema an industrial disease for which compensation may be claimed.
§ Mr. Orme:I understand my hon. Friend's concern with this disease. Whilst the position is of course kept under review, the evidence currently available on emphysema does not offer any prospect for its inclusion on the list of prescribed industrial diseases. To prescribe emphysema we should, under the criteria laid down in the Social Security Act 1975, have to be able to distinguish clinically between those cases which do arise from a person's occupation and those which do not. This distinction is not at present possible; and the direct link between an occupation and a disease must be established before a disease is prescribed as an industrial disease, since this attracts the preferential benefits of the industrial injuries scheme.