§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what work is being carried out involving botulism toxins; for what purpose; and whether such work has commercial applications or export potential.
§ Mr. FreemanA number of establishments are known to be involved in research on botulinum toxins including the PHLS Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research at Porton Down. In the first instance, fundamental research is in progress on the structure and function of the several botulinum toxin molecules. The knowledge generated from this work is being applied in a number of areas: in the development of botulinum toxin for human therapeutic use; the CAMR is developing bolutinum toxoid vaccines for human use and is developing sensitive rapid in vitro assays for the detection of botulinum toxins. These areas could have commercial and export potential.
The Agricultural and Food Research Council's Institute of Food Research also has a programme of research in relation to clostridium botulinum and food safety, and is carrying out work with this organism under a number of different conditions relevant to food preservation. This work is part of a programme funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on modelling microbiological growth. The institute will shortly begin work on the genetic relationships of the different botulinum toxins. This is part of a noncommercial major food safety programme.