Porton Down (Hansard, 26 January 1994)

§ Mr. Hanley

These are matters for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down—CBDE. I have asked the chief executive of CBDE to write to the hon. Member.

Letters from Graham S. Pearson to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 26 January 1994:

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what tests and studies have been carried by the chemical warfare establishment at Porton Down into binary reactant DF; when these tests and studies were carried out; and what was the assessment of these studies and tests (Question 9, 305W Order Paper, 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the UK Armed Forces have effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used against them. As part of this work the potential hazard of possible chemical and biological warfare agents is assessed and the evaluation of British protective measures evaluated.

3. Some work was carried out in the late 1940s and early 1950s into methyl phosphonyl difluoride at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Sutton Oak in a programme of work on unitary nerve agent precursors. The difluoride was subsequently used in mixtures with the dichloride in work at Nancekuke to prepare unitary nerve agents. No work has been carried out on DF as a binary reactant. More recently a limited study was carried out in 1993 to evaluate possible analytical techniques for DF as part of a programme examining the availability of the analytical techniques required to underpin the Chemical Weapons Convention.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking if all the tests for the human volunteer programme run by the chemical warfare establishments at Porton Down since 1964 have been carried out on service personnel alone; and if all these tests have been conducted within the grounds of the establishments at either Porton Down or Nancekuke (Question 10, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the UK Armed Forces have effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used against them. In order to carry out this work, it is necessary to use service volunteers to:

a. assess the ability of service personnel to function with new equipment and procedures,
b. develop medical countermeasures to protect Service personnel and
c. evaluate the effects of very low and medically safe concentrations of CW agents on the ability of unprotected personnel to operate normally.

No studies involving volunteers are carried out unless there is a clear military need and a detailed protocol has been reviewed and approved by an independent Ethics Committee in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Royal College of Physicians.

3. All studies for the human volunteer programme ran by the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment since 1964 are carried out using Service volunteers only and the majority of the studies are conducted within the grounds of the Establishment; a few are carried out at other military establishments. No Service volunteer studies have taken place at Nancekuke.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what work has been conducted since 1964 inside NHS hospitals by scientists from the Porton Down chemical and biological warfare establishment; when this work was carried out; if this work involved NHS patients; what was the conclusion of the work; if the results of the work were exchanged with the United States of America, Canada and Australia; and in which publications the results were published (Question 13, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

3. In carrying out its programme, CBDE does work in conjunction with academic institutions and hospital departments generally involving an extramural research contract from CBDE. Occasionally, members of CBDE staff participate in the work at these academic institutions or hospitals. No records are maintained of such participation. The involvement of NHS patients would be a matter for the academic institution or hospital concerned.

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4. The results of work carried out in conjunction with academic institution and hospital departments forms part of the technology base drawn upon in collaboration with the United States of America, Canada and Australia. Our records do not indicate any publications involving work carried out inside NHS hospitals by scientists from CBDE.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what was the nature of the collaborative work studied by the members of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment who were stationed for an extended period at the counterpart US military establishments in Edgewood and Fort Detrick in Maryland in recent years; and how much of this collaborative work has been published in open scientific literature (Question 16, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. I regret that our records do not provide this information in a readily accessible form. However I have consulted my staff and a small number of them have been stationed in recent years at either Edgewood or Fort Detrick. The nature of the collaborative work studied by members of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment was as follows:

(a) Detection of airborne microorganisms.
(b) Rapid identification of microorganisms by means of immunofluorescence.
(c) Theoretical studies into the penetration of protective suits by aerosol particles.
(d) Studies into the detection of chemical warfare agents focusing on the application of ion mobility spectrometry.
(e) Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling.

3. The published open literature that appeared as a result of this collaborative work was:

(a) PHILLIPS A. P., MORRIS B. C., HALL D., GLENISTER M. and WILLIAMS J. E. Identification of encapsulated and non-encapsulated Yersinia restis by immunofluorescence tests using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Epidemiol Infect 101: 59–73,1988.
(b) PHILLIPS A. P. and EZZELL J. W. Identification of Bacillus anthracis by polyclonal antibodies against extracted vegetative cell antigens. J Appl Bacteriol 66:419–432, 1989.
(c) EICEMAN G. A., SNYDER A. P. and BLYTH I). A. Monitoring of airborne organic vapors using ion mobility spectrometry. Intemat J Environ Anal Chem, 1990. Vol 38 part 3 pp 415–425.
(d) EICEMAN G. A., SNYDER A. P. and BLYTH D. A. Continuous atmospheric monitoring of organic vapors by ion mobility spectrometry. Instrumen Trace Org Monit, 1992.
(e) EICEMAN G. A., BLYTH D. A., SHOFF D. B. and SNYDER A. P. Screening of solid commercial pharmaceuticals using ion mobility spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry, 1990. Vol 62 part 14 pp 1374–1379.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what is the procedure for monitoring and checking on the health of service personnel who have been tested with chemical and biological warfare agents at Porton Down in the years following the tests; for how many years after the tests check-ups are made; how often the check-ups are made; if this information is automatically made available to the doctors of the service personnel, whether requested or not; and what changes have been made to this procedure since 1964 (Question 18, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the United Kingdom Armed Forces have effective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used against them. In order to carry out this work, it is necessary to use service volunteers to:

(a) assess the ability of service personnel to function with new equipment and procedures,
(b) develop medical countermeasures to protect Service personnel and
(c) evaluate the effects of very low and medically safe concentrations of CW agents on the ability of unprotected personnel to operate normally.

3. The procedure in respect of Service volunteers is that on arrival at CBDE each volunteer is given a medical examination to see if they are fit for the proposed study. The nature of the study is explained to them and they are told that they may withdraw from the study without any explanation at any stage. At the end of the study they are given a second medical examination and the fact that they have participated at CBDE in a volunteer study is recorded on their medical records.

4. From time to time, Service volunteers have been recalled so that checks on their medical health can be made. There is no particular frequency or pattern to such recalls. In addition some volunteers return voluntarily to CBDE to take part in subsequent unrelated studies. There is no evidence that Service volunteers have had any deterioration in their health as a result of their participation as a volunteer in a human study.

5. Recently, the practice has been instituted in which all volunteers upon arrival at the Establishment have been read a lay statement by a military officer which states that "It is CBDE policy to call back some volunteer subjects for re-testing from time to time to ensure that the techniques used give consistent and reproducible results and that no changes in the way we apply the tests have occurred with time". The recall of any volunteers to CBDE is recorded on their medical records.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what was the conclusion of Porton Down's work on Coxiella Burnettii referred to in his Answer to the honourable Member of 16th July 1993, Official Report, column 714, in which years information from this research was exchanged with the United States of America; and with which United States of America military establishment this information was exchanged (Question 19, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

3. The work on Coxiella Burnettii has shown that a number of antibody reagents and gene probes could be produced which could be incorporated into test procedures for the indentification of the agent. This information was exchanged with the United States Army Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the US Army Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center (ERDEC) since the last 1980s.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking from which source the QL referred to in his reply of 16th July 1993, Official Report, column 712, was obtained, what was the conclusion of the study; and if VX was produced as a result of the study into the transesterification process involving QL (Question 20, Order Paper 18 Janaury 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The QL was obtained from the United States of America and the conclusion of the study into the transesterification process confirmed that it was possible to produce VX from QL.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what studies and tests have been done by the chemical warfare establishment at Porton Down to assess a nerve agent which penetrates skin and clothes quicker than the G agents and VX; when these experiments were done; and what was the conclusion of the assessment (Question 22, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the UK Armed Forces have effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or 308W biological weapons may be used against them. As part of this work the potential hazard of possible chemical and biological warfare agents is assessed and the evaluation of British protective measures evaluated.

3. Our records do not indicate that any tests or studies have been carried out by the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down to assess a nerve agent which penetrates the skin and clothing quicker than the G agents and VX.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking if he will make a statement on the considerations leading to the setting up by the Chemical and Biological Defence Board of the Defence Scientific Advisory Council of the new Biomedical Sciences Committee and Microbiology and Biotechnology Committee; and if he will name the academic members of those committees (Question 23, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The Chemical and Biological Defence Board of the Defence Scientific Advisory Council has had three committees since the early 1980s: Physical Sciencies Committee, Life Sciences Committee and Medical Committee. In the late 1980s, an additional committee called the Biotechnology Committee was established under the Chemical and Biological Defence Board and was tasked to produce a report on the implications of biotechnology for defence. The Biotechnology Committee completed its work in early 1992. At the same time some of the activities of the Medical Committee were transferred to the CBDE Ethics Committee and the three committees of the Chemical and Biological Defence Board were reorganised into the Physical Science Committee, the Biomedical Sciences Committee and the Microbiology and Biotechnology Committee.

3. The individual independent members of these committees serve in a personal capacity and it would be inappropriate for the Ministry of Defence to name them.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what experiments his Department has carried out on Rocky Mountain spotted fever; when this work was carried out; what was the purpose of the work; and when and under which defence agreements the results of this work were passed to the United States of America, Canada or Australia (Question 25, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. We have no record that any work has been carried out at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment or its precursor establishments into Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.