Vitamin B6 (Hansard, 25 July 1997)

§ Mr. Tredinnick
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the report of the Government's Committee on Toxicity recommending restrictions on the use of vitamin B6 was published; and what further research has been conducted by the committee on toxicity since that date. [10667]
799W

§ Ms Jowell
A statement on the toxicity of vitamin B6 by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment—COT—was made available to the general public on 4 July 1997. Availability was announced in a Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food news release on Government action following COT and Food Advisory Committee advice on vitamin B6.
It is not part of the COT's remit to conduct research. However, it does review the available data on the toxicity of chemicals; this is both papers published in scientific journals and submissions from industry. In this case, the COT considered more than 100 papers before coming to its conclusion.

§ Mr. Tredinnick
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations he has received recently concerning the sale of vitamin B6. [10666]

§ Ms Jowell
Both the Department of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have jointly received approximately 1,000 letters making representations about vitamin B6. A significant proportion of these are in a standard format. However, on 23 July my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) and I met representatives of industry groups and nutritional therapy/alternative medicine interests, to listen to their views on the intended changes to the legislation controlling of vitamin B6 containing dietary supplements.

§ Mr. Tredinnick
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated by his Department concerning the effectiveness of vitamin B6. [10668]

§ Ms Jowell
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has not commissioned any research into the effectiveness of vitamin B6. Data from pharmaceutical companies, on the efficacy of medicinal products containing vitamin B6 have been evaluated by the licensing authority and its expert advisory bodies in relation to applications for marketing authorisation submitted to the Medicines Control Agency. Following grant of a marketing authorisation, the MCA continues to monitor efficacy in relation to safety for all authorised medicinal products, including those containing vitamin B6.