1030

questionnaires were completed from among twenty-five sent out tomajor U.K. and foreign owned pharmaceutical companies selected(with care, presumably) by the Association of the BritishPharmaceutical Industry. The Medicines Act covers many aspectsof drug manufacture other than the introduction of novel

compounds and Britain’s pharmacies are supplied by many morethan twenty-five firms. A survey of one end of the market cannotgive the whole picture. Furthermore, the Medicines Commissionand its subsidiary bodies have been reticent about "successes"-i.e.,faults found and prevented in manufacturing practices or inresearch and development. The cost-benefit equation becomesinsoluble without this information. The Act has not preventedevery side-effect: it is not 10007o effective. Hartley and Maynard 1reckon that it costs £ 30 million a year to operate (or up to 85 millionon less conservative estimates) and takes up the time of 1000 staff inthe industry and in the Medicines Division of the D.H.S.S.

Ultimately, all costs are borne by the taxpayer.

THE USE OF ANIMALS IN EXPERIMENTS

As THE anti-vivisection lobby goes from strength to strength (anestimated 5000 supporters took part in a vociferous protest at a

Ministry of Defence laboratory on Porton Down, near Salisbury,Wiltshire, on April 24), the council of the Institute of Biology hasissued a defence of the scientific position. The substance of thestatement, published in Biologistl is as follows:Since time immemorial man has used higher vertebrates as

working animals, for sport, and as sources of food, clothing, andadornment. The possibility of the misuse of living creatures in thepursuit of scientific knowledge troubles many, including biologists,especially when it may be supposed that any animal so used has adeveloped sensation of pain and an understanding of its situation. Itis only by the use of living animals, however, that biologicalprocesses can be observed-cell cultures are limited in theirreflection of complex variables. The need for knowledge, whichmay be used in the end to avoid or relieve suffering in man or animal,compels the scientist to reply on the laboratory animal. Alternativetechniques have replaced the use of animals on occasion, in thediagnosis of tuberculosis, for example, thus bearing witness to thebenevolence of the scientist wherever possible. The possibility offinding alternative methods of testing is an attitude endorsed by theInstitute, but the search itself may demand extensive animal

experimentation. The Institute accepts that animals are needed inthe course of scientific investigation and they must continue to beavailable. The Home Office regularly reminds licensees that theymust first be sure that alternative methods cannot be used, and onlythen may experiments humanely proceed.

SOCLAL SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE

THE newest and smallest of Britain’s five Research Councils is

undergoing a major reorganisation; its budget for 1982-83 has beencut by 5% to f20’ 9 million on top of a 20% reduction since 1979;and Lord Rothschild is reviewing its work with a remit from theSecretary of State for Education and Science that looks suspiciouslylike an invitation to prune radically if not axe altogether. Despite allthis, the Social Science Research Council willingly publicises itsdecisions, policies, and details of grants given and reports received. 2The eight new committees begin their work in June, with ProfRaymond Illsley of the Institute of Medical Sociology in Aberdeenas chairman of one of them, the Social Affairs Committee. Researchon ageing will be one of Professor Illsley’s priorities. Addictionresearch is also an S.S.R.C. interest, one research group supportedby f350 000 over five years having been given initial approval.Elsewhere, the involvement of the S.S.R.C. in health-relatedresearch is not much in evidence. The forty-two research grantsmade in the second half of 1981 included money for the study ofhealth beliefs of women in different social classes and of migrantworkers in the N.H.S., together with £ 17 825 for a pilot project onthe Anglo-Netherlands bill market and English export finance from1460 to 1740.

1. Biologist 1982; 29: 1.2. SSRC Newsletter 1982 (March), no. 45.

The Times Health SupplementThe newspaper, which ran for some 5 months before its closure by

Mr Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Times Newspapers Limited, hasbeen bought by Pergamon Press Limited, which is chaired by MrRobert Maxwell. The paper will continue to be under the editorshipof Miss Jill Turner and will be called The Health Services. It will bepublished fortnightly from May 14.Muscular Dystrophy Group of Great Britain

Prof. Arthur Buller, formerly chief scientist at the Department ofHealth and Social Security and dean of the Faculty of Medicine,University of Bristol, has been appointed research developmentdirector of the Muscular Dystrophy Group.

A special university lecture on The Life and Death of Health Centres1920-1955 will be given by Dr Charles Webster at the London School ofHygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1, on May 5 at5 P.M.

Correction

Silica Stones in the Urinary Bladder.—Table II of this paper by Dr D. A.Levison and his colleagues (March 27, p. 704) contained errors in columns 3and 4. The correct version appears below:

TABLE II-QUANTITIES OF MAGNESIUM TRISILICATE AND SILICAINGESTED AND SILICA EXCRETED IN URINE BY OUR PATIENT

. I -,

Diary of the WeekMAY 2 TO 8

Tuesday, 4thLONDON MEDICAL GROUP

5.45 P.M. (University College Hospital, Gower Street, London WC1) Symposium.-Psychosurgery : Do the Risks Outweigh the Benefits?

BRITISH POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL FOUNDATION5 P.M. (Windeyer Building, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London W1P 7PN)

Prof. H. E. de Wardener: The Natriuretic Hormone and Hypertension(Sandoz Foundation lecture).

Wednesday, 5thINSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY, St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Lisle

Street, Leicester Square, London WC2H 7BJ4.45 P.M. Dr C. D. Catterall: Cutaneous Manifestations of Sexually-transmitted

Diseases.ROYAL MASONIC HOSPITAL, Ravenscourt Park, London W6 OTN

7 P.M. Mr J. 0. Robinson: Gastric Surgery.ROYAL POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane

Road, London W12 OHS10.15 A.M. (Stamp lecture theatre) Medical staff round.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, Rowland Hill Street, London.

NW3 2PF5 P.M. Dr P. Bright-Asare (Chicago): Perspectives in the Treatment of Gastric Ulcer.

ASSURANCE MEDICAL SOCIETY, 11 Chandos Street, London Wl5 P.M. Dr I. McLain Baird: Height and Weight Surveys in Britain and Risk Factors in

Coronary Heart Disease.NORTHWICK PARK HOSPITALAND CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTRE, Watford

Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ1 P.M. Dr D. Samson: Sickle Cell and Associate Disease Problems.

CHACE POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL CENTRE, Chase Farm Hospital, TheRidgeway, Enfield EN2 8JL

I P.M. Dr L. Capel: Hay Fever.MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY, The University, Manchester MI3 9PL

5 P.M. Prof. J. M. Cameron: The Medico-legal Interpretation of the Turin Shroud.

Thursday, 6thROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London

WC2A 3PN5.30 P.M. Prof. H. Spoendlin: The Auditory Neurons in Normal and Pathological

Conditions (Joseph Toynbee memorial lecture).ST MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG

5.15 P.M. Prof. Robert Williamson: Cloned Genes in Antenatal Diagnosis.LONDON MEDICAL GROUP6.15 P.M. (Westminster Hospital, Horseferry Road, London SW SympoSlum.- The

Ethics of Cancer Treatment.