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Parliament

Cancer Research

CANCER research was chosen as the subject for debateon the motion for adjournment in the House of Commonslast week. Mr. JOHN FRASER rose to ask the Governmentwhy it could not spent more on this. He called attentionto the anomalous position in which the Chester BeattyInstitute had a deficit while the British Empire CancerCampaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund didnot spend all the money which the general public so

generously donated to them. Was the research now beingundertaken sufficiently coordinated and were the prioritiesright between different bodies undertaking cancer researchand between different lines of research? Mr. GERRY

FOWLER, Minister of State at the Department of Educationand Science, claimed that out of t5 million spent on cancerresearch, the Exchequer provided E2 million. It was

impossible to say that one branch of medical research wasmore deserving than another; all competed equally forfunds. The Medical Research Council received a lumpsum from the Government and it had an independentright to decide how it spent this money, but cancer researchwas high on its list of priorities. It provided nearly halfthe income of the Chester Beatty Institute, and the factthat the Institute was cutting down on certain lines ofresearch might well be because they were unpromising.It was not for the Government to interfere and say what

priorities it should give to various aspects of research. Asfor coordination, the Government welcomed voluntaryorganisations, which had always worked in close cooperationwith the M.R.C.

Overseas Aid

Mrs. JUDITH HART, Minister of Overseas Development,referring to the Pearson Commission’s recommendationfor 1 % of the gross national product to be devoted to aidfor the developing countries, said that the United Kingdomcould expect to reach this target not much after 1975 (asrecommended by the Commission) if a high estimate forprivate flows was assumed. Mr. DAVID CROUCH observedthat the United Kingdom’s contribution had fallen from1-03% of the G.N.P. in 1965 to 0.75%. At present, totalaid was split roughly fifty-fifty between official and privateinvestment. Mr. REG PRENTICE saw no reason why theGovernment could not have clearly accepted the Pearsonrecommendations on quantity of aid. The first mainrecommendation was that the nation’s contribution shouldamount to 1% of G.N.P. by 1975 at the latest; and thesecond was that within this total at least 0-7% should beGovernment aid. Mr. BERNARD BRAINE pointed out thatthe problem was not merely one of feeding ever-increasingmillions. The green revolution was beginning to show thatthis might no longer be a problem. The problem now wasone of finding useful productive work, of distributingfairly what was produced, or of raising living standards-in short, of giving the poor of the world real hope that amere existence could be turned into a life worth living.Sir EDWARD BOYLE, as a member of the Pearson Com-mission, warned against extremes of pessimism on the onehand or of optimism on the other. Thirty-five developingcountries had managed a growth in income per head of2% or more over a ten-year period; but in over halfthe developing countries average incomes were belowthe average figure of$100 per head, and the gapbetween the rich and the poor nations was still wideningrapidly.

QUESTION TIME

Battered-baby SyndromeDr. JOHN DuNwooDY, joint under-secretary of State at

the Department of Health and Social Security, said that theHome Secretary and the Secretary of State for SocialServices were intending to issue guidance to local healthand children’s authorities in view of the growing number ofsmall children being severely injured by assaults from theirparents. He realised that the battered-baby syndrome wasnotifiable in some countries but he was not convinced thatthis would help to solve the problem here. Medical practi-tioners, such as general practitioners and casualty officerswho were most likely to deal with these cases, could beinformed.

TonsillectomyMr. RICHARD CROSSMAN, Secretary of State for Social

Services, said that he was arranging a meeting with theMedical Research Council to consider instituting an inquiryinto the purpose of the large number of tonsillectomyoperations. He reckoned that about E3 million a year wasspent on these.

Commonwealth Hospital Doctors17% of hospital doctors employed in National Health

Service hospitals in England and Wales at Sept. 30, 1968,were known to have been born in Commonwealth countriesother than Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. At Sept. 30,1965, the proportion was 15%. If the junior levels are con-sidered alone, the percentage is much higher.

Sterilisation

It is estimated that in 1966 in England and Wales 110males and 7650 females were sterilised, and in 1967 inScotland 62 men and 1509 women were sterilised. Thenumbers of women sterilised after an operation for the ter-mination of pregnancy, notified under the Abortion Act,1967, between April 27, 1968, and June 30, 1969, were9491 in England and Wales and 1054 in Scotland.

AppointmentsGRAY, WILLIAM, M.B. Edin., M.R.C.P.E. : consultant physician, Perth and

Perthshire area.PowELL, THOMAS, M.B. Wales, M.R.C.P., F.F.R.: consultant radiologist,

United Sheffield Hospitals.

Birmingham Regional Hospital Board:BOLT, JEAN M. W., M.B. Belf., D.P.H., D.P.M. : consultant psychiatrist,

South Warwickshire hospital group.BOTTING, T. D. J., M.B. Birm., F.R.C.S. : consultant orthopaedic sur-

geon, South Birmingham hospital group.COCKEL, Roy, M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P. : consultant physician, South

Birmingham hospital group.COTTRELL, W. M., M.B. Lond., D.P.M. : consultant psychiatrist, North

Staffordshire hospital group.EDDY, W. D., M.B., M.R.C.P. : consultant physician, North Birmingham

hospital group.GAMLEN, G. W., M.B. Cantab., F.F.A. R.c.s.: consultant anaesthetist,

South Warwickshire hospital group.GREEN, I. D., M.B., PH.D. Lond., M.R.C.P. : consultant physician, South

Birmingham hospital group.HILL, D. M., B.M. Oxon., M.R.C.P. : consultant physician, South

Worcestershire hospital group.KRAMER, J. J., M.B. Lond., M.R.C.PATH. : consultant pathologist,

Herefordshire hospital group.MAJOR, C. T., M.B. Sheff., F.F.A. R.c.s.: consultant anaesthetist, Shrews-

bury hospital group and Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Ortho-pxdic Hospital.

MARSHALL, J. E., M.B. Leeds, F.F.A. R.c.s.: consultant anaesthetist,Shrewsbury hospital group and Robert Jones and Agnes HuntOrthopaedic Hospital.

MORTON, M. R., M.B. Lond., D.P.M. : consultant psychiatrist, Worces-tershire hospital group.

MYERS, D. H., B.M. Oxon., M.R.C.P., M.R.C.P.E., D.P.M.: consultantpsychiatrist, Shrewsbury hospital group.

PENLINGTON, G. N., M.B. Cantab., F.F.A. R.c.s.: consultant anaesthetist,Coventry hospital group.

POLLOCK, DAVID, M.B. Glasg., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.S.E. : consultant surgeon,Shrewsbury hospital group.