HC Deb 26 October 1994 vol 248 cc709-10W
Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance his Department, or the Chemical and Biological Defence Agency, gave the producers of the "Network First" programme, "The Secrets of Porton Down", broadcast on 11 October.

Mr. Soames

This is a matter for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment. I have asked the chief executive of the CBDE to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Graham Pearson to Mr. Llew Smith, dated 26 October 1994: 1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking him what assistance his Department, or the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, gave the producers of the Network First programme on the "Secrets of Potion Down", broadcast on 11 October has been passed to me to answer as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment. 2. The producers of the Network First programme broadcast on 11 October 1994 first approached this Establishment on 6 December 1993 to say that they had been commissioned by the ITV Network to make a one hour documentary programme looking at the history of chemical and biological warfare research in Britain for transmission in 1994. This was followed by a meeting with the Director and Associate Producer of the programme in the Ministry of Defence with the Head of News and myself. We were provided with an outline of the programme which said, that it would look at the history of British research into chemical and biological warfare and defence and assess its current status. They made it clear that they felt that CBDE Porton Down had made a very significant contribution to chemical and biological defence and wished to examine the direction of such defence now that the East-West situation had relaxed and the Chemical Weapons Convention had been opened signature and steps were being taken to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention. 3. This was followed by a reconnaissance visit by the Director and Associate Producer to CBDE Porton Down on Friday 14 January 1994. This led to a request dated 20 January 1994 which stated that this was an appropriate moment to take stock of the history and development of chemical and biological warfare and defence, a history in which Porton Down had played a leading role for almost 80 years. Requests were made for filming facilities at CBDE Porton Down together with an interview with myself. Such filming and the interview which lasted for about three hours took place on 3 and 10 February 1994. In addition, CBDE provided on loan to the producers five CBDE films and four video tapes. 4. Our practice over the past decade has been to respond positively to requests from media for facilities at CBDE Porton Down and these have generally succeeded in giving a far wider public perception of the role of CBDE which is to ensure that the United Kingdom Armed Forces are provided with effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons might be used against them. This improved public perception has also been aided by CBDE being a Defence Agency since April 1991 resulting in the publication of Annual Reports and Accounts. In addition, in July 1994, we launched a new brochure "Protecting Through Scientific Understanding" together with an accompanying video.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men or women have died as a result of experiments undertaken on them with chemical or biological warfare agents at Porton Down Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

Mr. Soames

This is a matter for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Graham Pearson to Mr. Llew Smith, dated 26 October, 1994: 1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking him how many Service personnel have died as a result of experiments undertaken on them with chemical or biological warfare agents at Potion Down CBDE has been passed to me to answer 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:

  1. a. assess the ability of service personnel to function to function with new equipment and procedures,
  2. b. develop medical countermeasures to protect Service personnel and
  3. 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. Since the start of the Service volunteer programme in the 1920s, there has been a single fatality in 1953 as reported in the Official Report (9 June 1953, Volume 516, Column 7–8 and 22 June 1953, Volume 516, Column 105) when Leading Aircraftsman Ronald Maddison died from the effects of asphyxia after taking part in a trial at the then Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment at Porton Down. A detailed inquiry was then held into the circumstances and following this inquiry which was carried out by eminent independent scientists, new guidelines were laid down to ensure the safety of Service volunteers. In the subsequent 40 years, there has been no fatality nor has there been any evidence that any Service volunteers have suffered deterioration in their health as a result of participating in studies at Porton Down.