§ Mr. Nick AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what methods, other than experimentation on animals, have been used at Porton Down and elsewhere to test antidotes to chemical weapons. [5872]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 14 December 1995:
Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what methods other than experimentation on animals have been used at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE), Porton Down to test antidotes to chemical weapons has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) which now includes CBDE as one of its divisions.CBDE continues to develop and use a range of in-vitro test systems for the identification and evaluation of medical countermeasures against chemical warfare agents. These systems include cell and tissue cultures, synthetic membranes and in-vitro diffusion systems.The military acceptability of proposed medical counter measures is assessed in service volunteers.I hope this information is helpful.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the chemical defence establishment at Porton Down filmed its LSD experiments on service volunteers during(a) Operation Recount, (b) Operation Small Change and (c) tests in the establishment's medical facilities. [5934]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Dr. David Clark, dated 14 December 1995:
762WYour Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking if the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down filmed the LSD experiments on service volunteers during a) Operation Recount, b) Operation Small Change and c) tests in the Establishment's medical facilities has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). The Chemical Defence Establishment has undergone a number of changes since the 1960s and is now known as the Chemical & Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) which is a division of DERA.Information held at CBDE suggests that some of these trials which, as you know were conducted about thirty years ago at Porton Down, were filmed. Unfortunately, in the time allowed to answer your question it has not been possible to recover the films and confirm this. I will write to you as soon as it has been possible to do so.I am sorry I cannot be more positive on this occasion.
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many animals were used in experiments to test antidotes to chemical weapons in each of the last five years at(a) the Porton Down establishment and (b) elsewhere. [5873]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 14 December 1995:
Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking how many animals were used in experiments to test antidotes to chemical weapons in each of the last five years at a) Potion Down and b) elsewhere has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) which includes CBDE as one of its divisions.The number of animals used at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down in research programmes with the aim of evaluating medical countermeasures against chemical warfare agents for the last five years is detailed below:
- 1990: 8,106
- 1991: 4,964
- 1992: 2,822
- 1993: 2,498
- 1994: 1,597
No work is done elsewhere in the MoD using animals to test antidotes to chemical weapons.I hope this information is helpful.