§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any evidence concerning a relationship between overdoses of pyridoxine by pregnant women and deformities in babies.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe are not aware of any evidence of a direct causal connection between pyridoxine use and foetal abnormalities.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his estimate of the number of people who take pyridoxine; and how many of them are pregnant women;
(2) if he will list the preparations which contain pyridoxine; and if there has been any appreciable increase in their uses in recent years.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThere are 281 licensed medicinal products which contain pyridoxine or pyrodoxine hydrochloride. I am sending a list of these to the right hon. Member. I am advised that pyridoxine is also sold as a dietary supplement and not as a medicinal product, but this use is not within the terms of the Medicines Act and we do not know how many such products there are. We do not have information on the number of people using pyridoxine, either in medicinal products or as a dietary supplement.