§ Lord AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
When the present Working Party on Vitamin D deficiency was established; whether they will give the names of its members and chairman; what questions the working party addressed to a panel of GPs; how many GP's replied; whether they will give an analysis of the answers; and why the report of the previous working party, formed in 1974, was never published.
§ Lord CULLEN of ASHBOURNEThe Working Party on the Fortification of Foods with Vitamin D was established in March 1977. Membership of the working party was as follows:
92WA
- Dr. E. M. Widdowson—Chairman, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge.
- Dr. G. A. H. Elton, Chief Scientific Adviser, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
- Professor A. N. Exton-Smith, Professor of Geriatrics, University College Hospital.
- Dr. D. E. M. Lawson, Medical Research Council, Dunn Nutritional Research Laboratory, Cambridge.
- Professor T. E. Oppé, Professor of Paediatrics, St. Mary's Hospital Medical School.
- Professor J. C. Waterlow, Professor of Nutrition, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
As part of the process of gathering information for the working party about Vitamin D deficiency diseases a questionnaire was sent to general practitioners known to have had a sizeable number of Asian persons in their practices. The questionnaire asked for information on trends in the incidence of rickets and osteomalacia in the past 5–10 years and the number of cases of rickets and osteomalacia in 1970, 1977 and 1978. Of the 230 doctors approached information was obtained from 197. Their answers showed that for rickets 26 per cent. reported no cases, 31 per cent. reported a declining incidence and 5 per cent. an increasing incidence over this period. Corresponding figures for osteomalacia were 36 per cent., 24 per cent. and 5 per cent.
No working party on this subject set up by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy was in being in 1974.