§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research the Government have recently commissioned(a) on the risks of contracting human BSE from surgical instruments and (b) on how the NHS should deal with patients exposed to such risk through medical treatment; and when the results will be published. [18909]
§ Yvette CooperThe Department published a report entitled "Risk assessment for the transmission of vCJD via surgical instruments" on 16 March. This is available on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/cjd/riskassessmentsi.htm.
On 10 October 2001 the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Incidents Panel published for consultation a framework document setting out proposals on the management of incidents involving possible exposure to CJD via surgery or donated blood, organs or tissues. The document is available on the Department's website at http://www.doh.gov.uk/cjd/consultation.
Since 1998 the Department has allocated nearly £4 million to research on risk and decontamination of surgical instruments, and hopes to commission further contracts worth over £2 million in 2002. This work is carried out in major Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy research centres such as the Medical Research Council's prion unit in London and the National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Diseases surveillance unit in Edinburgh. Scientists at the Universities of Cambridge, London and Southampton are also involved, as well as those at Government research centres such as the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research and the Institute for Animal Health.
A list of Government funded research on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies is published on the Medical Research Council's website at http:/www.mrc.ac.uk/ tse_tb2c.htm.