§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases there have been of babies who have become victims of Alzheimer's disease.
§ Mr. FreemanInformation held centrally about Alzheimer's disease relates to those cases which received treatment in an NHS hospital. The data which are based on a 10 per cent. sample of patient discharge records, revealed no such cases in the under 15 age group. We are not aware of any cases of babies or children with Alzheimer's disease.
§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the effect on babies of consuming food with high levels of aluminium.
§ Mr. FreemanAluminium in the diet is not known to cause any disease in babies. In 1988 the Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation joint expert committee on food additives set a provisional tolerable weekly intake—PTWI—for aluminium of 7 mg per kilogram bodyweight. This figure was based on the effects on laboratory animals of very much greater intakes of aluminium compounds. The aluminium intakes of babies in the United Kingdom are well below this PTWI.