PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
FUTURE OF THE BRISTOL CANCER HELP CENTRE (5 June 1995)

That this House accepts that the threat to the Bristol Cancer Help Centre which only has funds until September and requires ú325,000 per annum to survive is directly attributable to the publication of the report on breast cancer patients commissioned and funded by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Cancer Research Campaign, and in spite of warnings that the research was flawed; notes that the Charity Commission upheld complaints from the Bristol Survey Support Group that supervision of the study was inadequate and the information was badly handled, and also recommended guidelines on the responsibilities of charities funding medical research; deplores the fact that these research bodies should act in such a negligent manner; calls upon them to apologise to the women used as pawns in the research and to pay compensation both to the women for emotional distress, and to the Centre in line with the estimated ú1 million that adverse publicity has cost it in lost donations over five years; demands that the report be officially withdrawn; calls for the establishment of an equivalent body to the GMC to govern the field of misconduct in scientific research; and urges the Government to provide match funding in order to fully develop the BCHC's model into an invaluable subject of research and to foster its integration into maintstream health care.

Sponsored by:
Baroness Corston (Labour)