§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what information he has on research into the levels of aluminium in medical products such as antacids; by whom the research was conducted; and whether the levels found were considered to be harmful or not;
(2) what information he has as to about which illnesses or complaints there have been reports of a possible association with aluminium, for which the ingestion of aluminium is not recommended;
(3) if he will make a statement on the known risks of ingesting aluminium; and if he will list the foods, drinks and other products which are suspected of containing an undesirable high level of the element.
§ Mr. FreemanAluminium and its salts are of low toxicity and have various approved uses in medical practice and in the food and water industries.
Aluminium hydroxide and other aluminium salts are widely used in medicinal products as antacids in the treatment of gastro-intestinal disease. I am not aware of any recent research in this area since their effects are widely known and they are regarded as extremely safe. However, in a very few patients with pre-existing depletion of body phosphate, this condition can be worsened, leading to osteomalacia (softening of the bone); advice to doctors on antacids is that they should not be used for these patients.
In-patients with renal failure, who have high body phosphate. aluminium hydroxide is used as a binding agent to limit uptake of phosphate from the intestine. In severe cases, very large doses are used and it is recognised that this may contribute toward encephalopathy and osteomalacia, and that very careful monitoring is required.
800WRenal dialysis with fluid high in aluminium is liable to cause encephalopathy and osteomalacia because the aluminium readily enters the bloodstream, unlike ingested aluminium. Levels of aluminium in licensed dialysis products (such as peritoneal dialysis solutions) are controlled to below the limits defined in EC resolution 86/C184/04 of 16 June 1986. These limits are applied by the United Kingdom licensing authority when approving product licence applications. For other categories of licensed medicines, the monitoring and control of aluminium and other metals is kept under review by the licensing authority and the Committee on Safety of Medicines.
No disease is known to be caused either by natural presence of aluminium or as a result of the approved use, in food or drinking water. No food or drink, including tap water, normally contains an undesirably high level of this element. However, rare incidents of gross contamination of water with certain salts of aluminium have caused acute outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting.
A hypothesis that aluminium may have a role in the causation of Alzheimer's disease is currently being studied. Recent evidence of a geographical association between levels of aluminium in drinking water and the disease is assessed by the Department's independent expert advisers, in agreement with the authors of the study, as too tentative to justify changes in usage; further research along several lines is in hand.
Reports of a number of persistent ill effects following a recent incident of gross contamination of water by aluminium sulphate are now to be considered by an advisory group of independent medical and scientific experts.
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§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has on research into the levels of aluminium in(a) tea, (b) soft drinks (c) acid foods cooked in aluminium pans and (d) food wrapped or packed in aluminium foil or containers; who conducted the research in each case; and if the levels found were considered harmful or not.
§ Mr. FreemanIn a recent study conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, tea infused in a pyrex container using distilled water was found to contain between 2.2 and 5.5 milligrams of aluminium per litre.
The Camden Food Preservation Research Association has measured aluminium in a variety of soft drinks, where levels ranged from .3 to 1.3 mg per kg.
I understand that an independent study has shown that cooking in aluminium pans makes only a small contribution to the dietary intake of aluminium. Further details of dietary aluminium levels are given in food surveillance paper No. 15, "Survey of Aluminium, Antimony, Chromium, Cobalt, Indium, Nickel, Thallium and Tin in Food", a copy of which I have placed in the Library.
There is no evidence that aluminium in food is harmful.