HC Deb 28 June 1993 vol 227 c349W
Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths were attributable to isobutyl nitrite in each of the last five years.

Mr. Sackville

In England and Wales during the period 1988 to 1992 there were no deaths where isobutyl nitrite was attributable, on death registrations, to be the cause.

Information from St. George's medical school, which monitors all deaths in the United Kingdom associated with abuse of volatile substances, however, shows that during the period 1988 to 1991—the latest year for which information is available—there are known to have been five deaths in England and Wales that were associated with alkyl nitrites1. 1 All the nitrite compounds involved are of commercial quality, not pure, and may contain several isomers. For this reason, the St. George's report "Trends in Deaths Associated with Abuse of Volatile Substances 1971–1991: Report No. 6", copies of which are available in the Library, refer to them generically as alkyl nitrites.