§ Sir John StanleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will detail the research proposals on myalgic encephalomyelitis that have been(a) accepted and (b) rejected for funding by his Department and the Medical Research Council over the last three years, stating in relation to rejected proposals the reasons for rejection in each case.
§ Mr. DorrellThe Department has not accepted any research proposals on myalgic encephalomyelitis. Such proposals would normally be referred to the Medical Research Council, which is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research in the United Kingdom. The MRC is an independent body which receives its grant-in-aid from the Department of Education and Science. It decides what research to support on its own expert judgment.
The MRC is not currently funding research specifically into ME. It is, however, funding one study at the Institute of Psychiatry, which is to investigate chronic fatigue in general practitioner attenders. Five other research applications in this area were received over the last three years, which the MRC rejected because they were not of high enough scientific quality, given the funds available. The council also supports work on immune responses to 311W the muscle, nerve cells and related structures which may have some relevance to the understanding and treatment of this condition.