§ The Countess of Marasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many doses of Botulinum serum were procured and taken to the Gulf between August 1990 43WA and March 1991 for treatment purposes and how many doses were returned after the withdrawal of British troops.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert)During the Gulf War a programme was established at CBD Porton Down to manufacture anti-toxin for Botulinum toxin (BTx), based on serum derived from human volunteers and goats who had been inoculated against particular strains of BTx. 3,000 doses of human anti-toxin and 17,000 doses of goat anti-toxin were pre-positioned in the Gulf for use in the event of an Iraqi biological warfare attack using BTx. So far as MoD is aware, all 20,000 doses of anti-toxin were returned to the UK after hostilities ended. However, the MoD fact finding team, which has been established to look into the implementation of the anti-biological warfare agent immunisation programme, will also be reviewing the available information concerning BTx anti-toxin.