Puberty-suppressing Hormones
Debate between Lord Winston and Baroness Merron(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Baroness Merron (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for bringing her expertise directly into the Chamber. We are very glad that she is in the House to do so, and she has actually answered a number of the points better than I ever could.
I will emphasise one point that I am particularly interested in, because I know it has been raised a lot, about why the legislation is being laid in respect of the use of medicines just for gender dysphoria. The noble Baroness, Lady Cass, referred to this. It is really important to emphasise that the medicine might be the same, but the fact is that it is not licensed for gender incongruence or dysphoria—that is the key point. These medicines have not undergone that process, which means that safety and risk implications have not yet been considered. It is true that there are licensed uses of the medicines for much younger children or for older adults, but the issue here is about adolescents, and it is an entirely different situation.
Lord Winston (Lab)
My Lords, perhaps I might return to the conventional asking of a question to the Minister—a very quick question. There are a number of practitioners who are considering, if not giving, sex steroids to patients who are requesting gender reassignment; either oestrogen or progesterone, or the equivalent male hormone. Have the Government yet considered how patients will be treated in this situation? There are certain, clear dangers involved.
Baroness Merron (Lab)
I understand the point my noble friend rightly raises, and I emphasise again that what matters here are safety considerations—particularly when we are talking about children and young people—but also the evidence in respect of treatments, that there should be the prescription only of medication which is safe and appropriate to the actual patient and situation.
Bread and Flour Regulations 1998
Debate between Lord Winston and Baroness Merron(1 week, 6 days ago)
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Baroness Merron (Lab)
Patient safety is at the forefront of this. I do not want to look backwards, but I gently suggest that there are all sorts of reasons for delays. Still, we are where we are now, and what is important is moving ahead. We are working closely with the Chief Medical Officers across the UK. We are very much in lockstep with the devolved Governments, and I think that will also assist.
Lord Winston (Lab)
Given the Government’s excellent initiative to reduce the serious risk of neural tube defects, which cause such despair to so many people, will they tell us where we have got to with fluoride addition to the water supply to prevent dental disease?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
My noble friend is right, and we anticipate that this policy will reduce the number of neural tube defects in pregnancy by around 200 a year. Those are life-changing brain and spinal defects, such as spina bifida. The question about fluoridation goes a little wider than I had anticipated.
NHS Hospitals: Apheresis
Debate between Lord Winston and Baroness Merron(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Merron (Lab)
What the noble Baroness says is very true and I certainly can give the assurances she seeks.
Lord Winston (Lab)
My Lords, I have scanned the literature because I looked at this Question on the Order Paper, and I noticed that there seem to be very few completed trials showing clear efficacy of stem cell transplantation, except in the case of blood dyscrasias such as cystic fibrosis. Would the Minister be kind enough to let me know how many trials are being conducted in this country? If she does not know, maybe she could tell me in due course.
Baroness Merron (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for raising that important point. I will be very pleased to look into this further, so I can answer him in full.