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Haemophilia: Factor VIII and Factor IX Blood Products
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many adverse incidents relating to the use of Factor VIII and Factor IX blood products used for haemophilia treatment were reported in each year from 1970 to 1987 in England.[HL2508]
Baroness Andrews: Reports of adverse drug reactions to medicines are collated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) through the spontaneous reporting scheme, the Yellow Card Scheme.
During the period 1970–87 no reports of suspected adverse drug reactions were reported to the MHRA/CSM, associated with Factor IX in the United Kingdom.
In the UK, a total of 89 reports of suspected adverse drug reactions were reported to be associated with Factor VIII during the period 1970–87. The following table lists the number of reports received by year:
| Year | Number of reports received |
| 1970 | 0 |
| 1971 | 0 |
| 1972 | 0 |
| 1973 | 0 |
| 1974 | 3 |
| 1975 | 0 |
| 1976 | 2 |
| 1977 | 8 |
| 1978 | 10 |
| 1979 | 20 |
| 1980 | 7 |
| 1981 | 17 |
| 1982 | 2 |
| 1983 | 3 |
| 1984 | 1 |
| 1985 | 7 |
| 1986 | 7 |
| 1987 | 2 |
| Total | 89 |
The figures provided relate to the number of reports received. Some reports may contain more than one reaction.
The reporting of a reaction does not necessarily mean that it has been caused by the drug. Many factors have to be taken into account when assessing causal relationships including temporal relationship, the possible contribution of concomitant medication, and the underlying disease.
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Andrews: The Department of Health is aware of the important work undertaken by the West Sussex safe house—a resource for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children for whom West Sussex County Council has responsibility. We understand that a proposal has been put to West Sussex County Council to close the safe house and replace it with training and support packages to carers of young people assessed as being at risk of being trafficked.
Lord Chan asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the safe house for children at risk of trafficking for sexual exploitation, managed by West Sussex social services, is in danger of closing; and, if so, whether they will provide resources to prevent this closure.[HL2530]
Whether they regret the postponement of an international conference on traditional Chinese medicine at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference
30 Apr 2003 : Column WA114
- Centre on 25 April because more than 200 delegates were coming from China and Hong Kong.[HL2542]
Baroness Andrews: The Government regret the postponement of the international conference on traditional Chinese medicine. They welcome the rescheduling of the conference for September 2003.
SARS
Lord Chan asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What advice they would give to the Chinese community in the United Kingdom to avoid the fear and alarm which was generated by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) among the Chinese community in Toronto in the week beginning 7 April.[HL2541]
Baroness Andrews: The Department of Health issued updated information and advice to all travellers from the United Kingdom about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on Wednesday 2 April. This information is reviewed daily.
Fresh Frozen Plasma
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
- In the light of the recent discontinuation of human-derived follicle-stimulating hormone (Metrodin High Purity) by the Committee on Safety of Medicines because of the posed risk of vCJD, whether they have assessed the cost of possible compensation claims from transfusion of vCJD through United Kingdom-sourced fresh frozen plasma.[HL2554]
Baroness Andrews: No specific assessment has been made of the possible compensation claims from transfusion of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease through United Kingdom-sourced fresh frozen plasma. There is no evidence world wide that CJD or vCJD has ever been transmitted through blood or blood products although the theoretical risk cannot be ruled out.
Genetically Modified Crops
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will describe the timetable for decisions to be made about the commercial growing of genetically modified crops, the public debate and research being undertaken; and in particular whether:
(a) the results of the field trials involving genetically modified crops will be published in time for them to form part of the material available to the public taking part in the debate; and
(b) the Government's decision about whether to authorise commercial planting of genetically modified crops will be made during or after the conclusion of the public debate.[HL2351]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty): (a) The farm scale evaluations of genetically modified herbicide tolerant crops are being conducted by an independent research consortium and overseen by an independent Scientific Steering Committee. The research consortium has now written up its work on the spring-sown crops into a series of scientific papers and has submitted them to a scientific journal where they are currently undergoing peer review. I understand that, if accepted, the papers are unlikely to be published before September. The main phase of the public debate is being conducted between
June and July and the steering board is due to report in September. The results of the FSEs are therefore likely to be available to the public taking part in the debate. However once published, the crop trial results will be in the public domain and will be available for comment.
(b) Decisions about whether to authorise the planting of GM crops are expected to be made after the conclusion of the public debate. In terms of individual applications, the commercial cultivation of GM crops is regulated at EU level under EC Directive 2001/18 and decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis. Ten applications for commercial cultivation are currently being considered. These include two of the GM crops in the farm scale evaluations. Final decisions on any of these are unlikely to be taken at EU level before the end of the year, by which time we will have the report of the public debate and the first set of results from the crop trials.
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