My Lords, I speak to Amendments 10, 12 and 74, to which I have added my name. Although I support all the amendments in this group, they pretty much do the same or a similar kind of job, but I added my name to those amendments specifically because they speak to safety being paramount for new drugs and devices. I say that because the excellent Cumberlege report tells the graphic and heart-rending story of what happens when it is not.
We have heard about the effects of the drugs Primodos and sodium valproate from the noble Baroness, and other noble Lords will cover those areas. My interest relates to mesh and what happens when insufficient care is taken in the implementation and tracking of the well-being of women who have had it inserted. When it goes wrong, it really can ruin the life of the woman affected. Noble Lords may recall the case that
I mentioned on Second Reading of how Jane’s life has been ruined by mesh—not just physically but emotionally and economically. The noble Baroness described such things as well. Yet the surgeons who did this to her seem to exhibit no remorse and have closed ranks, denying the very existence of some of the pieces of mesh inside her.
It makes my blood boil to hear those harrowing stories, and the noble Baroness had to listen to such testimony from victims for two years. As she says in her report, this took its toll on her and the other members of the panel, but how much worse must it have been for the victims themselves? Yet we see phrases in the Bill such as,
“the appropriate authority must have due regard to ... the attractiveness of the relevant part of the United Kingdom as a place in which to conduct clinical trials or supply human medicines”.
Attractiveness? What does that even mean? My noble friend Lady Jolly spoke on the third group of amendments about the multiple interpretations that the term could have. Are we trialling drugs and devices on human beings so that we can subsequently flog them abroad? I am sure that the Minister will deny that and give us a proper definition of the word.
Attractiveness and availability must be a low priority compared with safety and that is why I strongly commend the amendments. If the Minister believes that safety must be the overriding consideration, I trust that he will have no difficulty in accepting them.