Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive, in conjunction with the Department for Environment Food and RuralAffairs, consulted on mercury emissions from crematoria between May and August2003.The consultation is at theweb-link: http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/crematoria/index.htm.

Options for reducing mercuryemissions in the light of the responses to the consultation paper are currentlybeing considered.

The only vaccines used in theUKroutine childhood immunisation programme that contain a mercury compound arethe diphtheria, tetanus and wholecell pertussis (DTwP) and diphtheria andtetanus vaccines. The mercury is present as ethylmercury in the excipientthiomersal. There is no thiomersal in the following vaccines currently in usein the UK: MMR, Hib, oral polio, meningitis C, BCG, pneumococcal vaccines or theacellular pertussis DTP vaccine (DTaP) used as a booster in the childhoodimmunisation programme. Thiomersal is also present in some influenza andhepatitis B vaccines.

Prescription data availablecentrally are not patient-specific, but relate to the numbers and cost ofprescribed items dispensed in the community by community pharmacists anddispensing doctors.

The following table presentsinformation on deaths from intentional self-harm and, separately, deaths frominjury or poisoning where the intent was undetermined. Both categories arerelevant because, other than for young children, it is believed that themajority of the latter are likely to have been suicides.

Deaths from Intentional Self-Harm and Eventsof Undetermined Intent,

by Age and Gender, Scotland, 2000-02

Year	Gender	All ages			Age	Group
			0-14	15-29	30-44	45-59	60-74	75+
Intentional self-harm1
2000	M	512	3	156	185	101	47	20
	F	136	3	34	50	33	8	8
2001	M	441	1	119	159	107	43	12
	F	168	1	29	66	40	24	8
2002	M	481		112	192	109	53	15
	F	155	1	36	49	39	25	5
Events of undetermined intent2
2000	M	162		46	43	33	29	11
	F	68	2	8	19	16	15	8
2001	M	205	1	48	73	44	27	12
	F	73		13	24	14	12	10
2002	M	195	3	64	60	35	28	5
	F	68	1	8	18	15	15	11
X60 - X84 & Y87.0  Y10 - Y34 & Y87.2

 

Source: InternationalClassification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD10)^1,2.

I announced the remit and membershipof the review group on Monday 22 September. I expect the group to report by theend of March 2004.

The safety of medicines is areserved matter and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare productsRegulatory Agency.

The agency has advised that preparationscontaining the herbal ingredient Kava kava, except for external use, have been withdrawnfrom the market due to rare but serious liver toxicity. No other medicines havebeen withdrawn for safety reasons since April 2002.

In February 2003, Metrodin HighPurity, a product used in IVF treatment, was withdrawn from use in the UK as a precautionarymeasure.

The Scottish Law Commission published a Discussion Paper on the case of Sharp v Thomson(DP No 114) on 16 July 2001 and the consultation period ended on the 31 October 2001. The commission have not made their recommendations yet. The main reason for this is the subsequent case of Burnett'sTrustees v Grainger which raised similar issues and is currently on appeal to the House of Lords. Given the dependency of this appeal on the matters raised in Sharp v Thomson, the commission stated in their 2002 annual report that they were unlikely to start work on their recommendations in 2003.

The Clinical Standards Board for Scotland was incorporated into NHS Quality Improvement Scotland(NHS QIS) in January 2003. The review of the schizophrenia standards is being approached in two phases. Phase 1 reports were published in March 2002. NHS QIS are currently visiting each trust that provides mental health services, reviewing phase 2 of the standards. Trusts are also being asked to update on progress for the implementation of the recommendations from phase 1. The outcome of the reviews will be published in the summer of 2004.

I referthe member to the answer given to question S2W-2577 today, which is available onthe Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Thecommission have not made any recommendations yet, and in these circumstances itwould be inappropriate for the Executive to take any action.

Detailed informationabout the commission's operational costs is not held centrally and enquiries shouldbe addressed directly to the Secretary of the Commission.