§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
A key principle of the Government's approach to addressing the health concerns of veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict is that there should be appropriate research into veterans' illnesses and factors that may have a bearing on these. Our current research programme is expected to cost at least £8.5 million.
As part of this research effort, the Ministry of Defence funded an independent study of the reproductive health of UK veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict through the Medical Research Council (MRC). The main findings of this research have today been published in a paper entitled "Miscarriage, stillbirth and congenital malformation in the offspring of UK veterans of the first Gulf war" in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The researchers have reported that for male veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict, they found no evidence for increased risk of stillbirth, chromosomal malformations or congenital syndromes. Some associations were reported between fathers' service and increased risk of miscarriage and other less well defined malformations. For female veterans, the number of stillbirths and malformations were too small to allow meaningful analysis and there was no effect on the risk of miscarriage.
The MoD welcomes publication of this important research. The MRC's Military Health Research Advisory Group (MHRAG) has considered the paper. It agrees with the researchers that, overall, the lack of evidence to link reproductive health problems with Gulf service should be reassuring to veterans and that the apparent increased risk identified should be interpreted with caution. The MHRAG does not intend to recommend any additional research into this aspect of Gulf veterans' health at this time.