§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many babies have been born with cystic fibrosis in England and Wales in each of the last five years; and what research projects have been financed by his Department to detect the gene responsible for this disease.
§ Mr. WhitneyInformation is not collected centrally on the number of sufferers from cystic fibrosis, which occurs about once in every 2,000 live births. The Department is 519W not currently funding any research in this area. I understand that the Medical Research Council is supporting research relevant to the detection of the gene responsible for this disease.