To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the annual consumption of CFCs used for essential medical purposes; if he will detail these individually; and if he will make a statement about how many of these uses could be replaced by non-ozone destroying products.

The figures of anual CFC consumption for essential medical purposes are not held centrally, but are believed to be a small proportion of total CFC consumption.The three main volatile anaesthetic agents for major surgery are CFCs, for which no acceptable alternatives are available. However alternatives are increasingly used for some day surgery procedures. The other essential medical use of CFCs is as propellants for certain pharmaceutical aerosols where measured dosage is an essential requirement. Pharmaceutical use of CFC propellants only accounts for ½ per cent. of all CFC aerosol use. The Department is supporting industry's efforts to find suitable alternatives which do not have adverse effects on drug stability, clinical efficacy, measured dose control and have acceptable overall development costs relative to use.