HC Deb 04 November 1993 vol 231 cc475-6W
Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on medical prophylactic measures taken to protect British service men who served in Operation Granby in Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia against chemical weapons attack; and what assessment has been made of the deleterious health effects arising from these protection measures.

Mr. Hanley

The only medical prophylactic agent employed against chemical weapon attack was the drug pyridostigmine bromide. It was issued in tablet packs called nerve agent pre-treatment sets (NAPS). One tablet containing 30 mg of the drug was taken every eight hours while the threat of chemical attack remained. NAPS has undergone trials at CBDE Porton Down and the drug pyridostigmine bromide has been used for many years in the treatment of the nerve disorder myasthenia gravis. Apart from the temporary minor side effects, the trials revealed that NAPS produced no deleterious health effects. Occasional minor side effects were reported during Operation Granby but these ceased as soon as NAPS was stopped.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements exist for keeping records of protective vaccines administered to British service men; and whether such records are available for inspection by(a) serving members of the armed forces, (b) former members of the armed forces and (c) general practitioners or hospital doctors treating former members of the armed forces.

Mr. Hanley

Standard procedures involve records of vaccines administered being kept in an individual's service medical documents. In operational situations these procedures may need to be modified to meet the circumstances existing at the time. During Operation Granby, for logistic reasons, individual service medical documents were not held locally. Any vaccines given were entered on a nominal roll for later transfer to individual records. Given the rapid repatriation and demobilisation of personnel at the end of the conflict it is possible that some individual records were not annotated with vaccination details. I have placed a copy of an internal Ministry of Defence report on the vaccines used for Operation Granby in the Library of the House.

Individual medical documents have the privacy marking "Medical in Confidence". Access to them is therefore restricted to members of the medical professions or to the patient concerned in accordance with the provisions of the Access to Health Records Act 1990. When a Service person leaves the Armed Forces, their Service medical documents remain the property of the MOD. Civilian GPs or hospital specialists will be provided, upon request and with the patient's consent, with any further information, or copies of records, they require to assist in the management of individual patients.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what stocks of nerve agent pre-treatment vaccines are held by his Department.

Mr. Hanley

Nerve agent pre-treatment vaccines are not held by the MOD. Protection for Her Majesty's forces against nerve agent poisoning is achieved by the use of NAPS. Sufficient stocks are held to meet the operational requirements of all three services. It is not the Department's practice to disclose stock levels.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received from the British Society for Allergy and Environmental Medicine in regard to service men or former service men who are suffering deleterious health effects having served in Operation Granby in the Gulf war.

Mr. Hanley

We have received no representations from the British Society for Allergy and Environmental Medicine. One member of the society has, however, written to the Department in his capacity as a medical practitioner in relation to one of his patients. For reasons of medical confidentiality, I am unable to give further details.