§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether the concentration and scientific nature of the C.S. gaseous substances used in grenades and canisters in the North of Ireland have been constant, or whether various formulæ have been employed in manufacture and charging.
§ Mr. Ian GilmourThe chemical composition has been constant.
§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether investigations into the properties of the C.S. gaseous agent carried out by and on behalf of the Ministry of Defence have ruled out any possibility that prolonged or repeated exposure to the agent can lead to accumulation of cyanide or similar substances in animals or humans.
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§ Mr. Ian GilmourAnimals exposed chronically to C.S. in aerosol form have shown no evidence of effects attributable to cyanide poisoning. Cyanide is not a cumulative poison.
§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether it is the policy of his Department to use C.S. gaseous agent in areas where the resident population contains a high proportion of sufferers from tuberculosis.
§ Mr. Ian GilmourC.S. is used when the control of violence and disturbances requires its use.
§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether the C.S. gaseous agent as used in Northern Ireland can have a deleterious effect on children suffering from hole-in-the-heart conditions.
§ Mr. Ian GilmourI have no evidence to this effect.
§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether he has instructed or will instruct the Chemical Defence Establishment to make investigation of the effect of the C.S. gaseous agent on schoolchildren in Belfast and Londonderry; and, in particular, he will instruct the Department to accumulate all significant information on enforced absence from school owing to medical conditions exacerbated by the agent.
§ Sir Ian GilmourSir Harold Himsworth's Committee is investigating the effects of C.S. in urban areas.
§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether the Chemical Defence Establishment has carried out investigations to discover what affect the C.S. gaseous agent has on people suffering from asthmatic conditions.
§ Mr. Ian GilmourSir Harold Himsworth's Committee, in their first Report published in October, 1969, stated that particular attention had been paid to the effects of exposure to C.S. on people suffering from asthma and found no evidence that such attacks differed in kind or degree from those attributable to natural causes. There has been no evidence to the contrary since that time.
§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether during 1970 the C.S. 196W gaseous agent was used by military personnel in the city of Armagh.
§ Mr. Ian GilmourC.S. was not used in security operations in Armagh during 1970.
§ Miss Devlinasked the Minister of State for Defence whether any portion or portions of the 1968 study into the effects of the C.S. gaseous agent are now available for publication.
§ Mr. Ian GilmourThe study will be published in due course.