§ Mr Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he received Dr. Gal's"Review of Evidence Implicating Hormonal Pregnancy Tests"; to whom he has referred it for advice; whether any of the people to whom he has referred it have previously been advising the Committee on Safety of Medicines on hormone pregnancy testing; when he expects to receive the advice; and if he will arrange for a copy of the advice and Dr. Gal's evidence to be placed in the Library.
§ Mr. Moyle:I received my hon. Friend's letter covering Dr. Gal's"Review of Evidence Implicating Hormonal Pregnancy Tests" on 31st July 1978 and referred it for advice to the Committee on Safety of Medicines. I have written to my hon. Friend today to advise him of the Committee's view that Dr. Gal's paper provides no proof of a causal relationship between the use of hormonal pregnancy tests and an increased incidence of congenital abnormalities. Copies of Dr. Gal's paper and the Committee's report on it have been placed in the Library.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether his Department sent any representatives to the symposium on hormone pregnancy tests held on 10th October in Berlin; and, if not, if he will request a report on the proceedings from the British people who attended;
(2) if he will arrange for a copy of the report of the Berlin symposium on hormone pregnancy tests, with an English translation of its conclusions, to be placed in the Library.
§ Mr. Moyle:My Department was not represented at the discussion of the use of hormones in early pregnancy held on 10th and 11th October by the West German federal health office but I have received a statement on the conclusions of the conference. I am arranging for copies in German and in English to be placed in the Library. The meeting concluded that 272W comparison of the incidence of malformations in groups with and without hormone treatment produced such small differences that it was not possible to speak of evidence of a causal connection between malformations and the intake of hormone drugs. None the less it was felt that, as in the United Kingdom, hormonal preparations should not be used for pregnancy testing since other methods were available which did not involve administration of a drug.