§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library the papers which have been published since 1984 on the experiments that have taken place on animals at Porton Down.
§ Mr. HanleyThis is a matter for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment under its framework document and I have asked the chief executive to reply.
Letter from Mr. G. Pearson to Mr. Harry Cohen, dated 26 July 1993:
751W1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking him if he will place in the Library the papers which have been published since 1984 on the experiments that have taken place on animals at Porton Down (Question 40, Order Paper 23 July 1993) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.2. Although as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment I am keen to provide as much information as possible on the work of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, I have to do so with due regard to the security and safety of the staff at the Establishment. I regret that the activities of animal rights activists, who placed a bomb under the car of a member of my staff from which she was lucky to escape with her life, necessitate that I should not provide this particular kind of information relating to animal experiments. I therefore regret that I cannot be more helpful on this occasion.