§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms exist for the disposal of dissecting instruments used in autopsies conducted at the CJD surveillance unit in Edinburgh. [10628]
§ Mr. HoramAutopsies on patients with suspected Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease conducted in Edinburgh by surveillance unit staff are carried out in a dedicated high-risk autopsy suite in the Edinburgh royal infirmary. This autopsy suite has both disposable and non-disposable instruments which are not used for general autopsy purposes. After a CJD autopsy, the disposable instruments are handled according to guidelines published in 1994 by the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens entitled, "Precautions for work with human and animal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies"—copies of which are available in the Library—and then incinerated. Non-disposable instruments are autoclaved in the high-risk autopsy suite at temperatures which are known to substantially inactivate the transmissible agents responsible for CJD. In the event of breakage, the non-disposable instruments would be disposed of according to the ACDP guidelines.