HL Deb 28 November 1984 vol 457 cc999-1000WA
Lord Jenkins of Putney

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What information they have on recent chemical weapons use or tests by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan; or by Iran or Iraq.

Baroness Young

As my right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces said in another place on the 27th January 1984, we believe that some form of non-lethal incapacitating agent has been used by Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Research and analysis continue of the evidence of the use of lethal chemical agents in that country.

In its report on 26th March 1984, a UN Investigation Team confirmed the use of chemical weapons in the Gulf conflict. We fully endorsed the Security Council's condemnation of the use of such weapons. In order to ensure that chemicals which can be misused to make such weapons do not reach the combatants from the United Kingdom we recently decided that existing export controls imposed in the light of the UN report should remain in force indefinitely.