§ 21. Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the implementation of the Government's new beginning policy for Gulf War veterans. [36277]
§ Dr. ReidThe policy statement "Gulf Veterans' Illnesses: A New Beginning" which was published last July set out three fundamental principles which underpin the Government's approach to this issue: first, that all Gulf veterans will have prompt access to medical advice from the MOD's Medical Assessment Programme (MAP); second, there will be appropriate research into veterans' illnesses and factors which might have a bearing on these; and third, the MOD will make available to the public any information it possesses which is of potential relevance to this issue.
Since last July, considerable progress has been made in implementing measures in these three areas. Additional resources have been made available for the MAP, and 48W the waiting time for new appointments is now within the timescale set out in the New Beginning statement. Additional research to investigate the possible interactions between the medical countermeasures used in the Gulf is now in its preparatory phase and the MOD recently announced funding for a series of clinical tests to be carried out on randomly selected Gulf veterans. Information papers have been published on the background to the use of medical countermeasures, about an incident at the Kuwaiti Girls School at which chemical agent was alleged to have been present and, earlier today, about reports of dead animals in the Gulf.
I have also published today a progress report which sets out in more detail our success in implementing the twenty key points which were listed in last July's New Beginning statement. Copies of this report, and of the report on dead animals, have been placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his latest assessment of the possible causes of Gulf War syndrome. [36278]
§ Dr. ReidSince returning from the Gulf War in 1991, some UK veterans have become ill. Many believe that this ill-health is unusual and directly related to their participation in that conflict. However, there is still no medical or scientific consensus on this subject and important research is still in progress.
The Government are funding two major epidemiological studies to investigate the health of Gulf veterans and their families. A further epidemiological study into UK Gulf veterans and association with increased illness is being funded by the US Department of Defense. In addition, the Government are funding a programme of clinical tests on a group of randomly selected Gulf veterans and also a research programme to investigate the possible adverse health effects of the combination of vaccines and tablets which were given to British troops in the Gulf to protect them against the threat of biological and chemical warfare.
49WIt would be premature to speculate on the possible causes of Gulf veterans' illnesses before the results of these research programmes become available. We currently expect that preliminary results from some of these studies will appear during 1999.