§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) on how many occasions studies involving service volunteers at Porton Down started without the permission of the Committee on the Safety of Human Experiments or the Independent Ethics Committee; and if the Committee on the Safety of Human Experiments included members who were not on the staff or Porton Down; [7309]
(2) what information has been kept on the register of work maintained by the Committee on the Safety of Human Experiments described in his answer of 6 July, Official Report, column 369; when this register was set up and whether it is still kept; where the register is kept; who has access to the register; whether any part of the register is unclassified; and whether the register is available to be consulted by service volunteers who have taken part in the service volunteers programme. [7310]
§ Mr. SoamesThese matters are for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from. John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 11 January 1996:
Your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence asking for further details about the register of work maintained by the Committee on the Safety of Human Experiments (COSHE) mentioned in my letter to you of 6 July 1995 (Official Report, column 369) and on how many occasions studies were started involving service volunteers without permission of the committee have been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which includes CBDE as one of its divisions. I am replying to both questions in this letter.The register referred to in my answer of 6th July comprises of a list of the study protocols approved by the Committee for the Safety of Human Experiments (COSHE) since its inception. It is a classified document held in the archives of the Medical Countermeasure Centre at CBDE Porton Down. Access is limited to those managing the Service Volunteer Programme.316WSince their inception no studies have ever been undertaken without the consent of either the COSHE or the Independent Ethics Committee. The COSHE was a committee of Porton Down medical practitioners and sometimes including external experts.I hope this information is helpful.
§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down started its policy of providing details, if requested, of the studies in which a service volunteer participated to medical practitioners who are responsible for the medical care of the individual concerned; what details are currently provided; and, since this policy began, whether the individuals concerned have always been allowed to see these details if the medical practitioner wished to show such details to the individual; [7294]
(2) if volunteers can inspect or obtain copies of contents of the paper folder referred to in his answer 18 July, Official Report, column 1174, containing details of their participation in the service volunteers programme at the Chemical Defence Establishment, Porton Down; if this paper folder contains laboratory reports and scientific data about the experiments in which they participated; and when the establishment started the practice of maintaining paper folders on each volunteer; [7311]
(3) if all service volunteers in the service personnel programme at the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down since 1965 have been informed of the name of the chemical or chemical agent which was being tested on them before the test started. [7305]
§ Mr. SoamesThese matters are for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 11 January 1996:
Your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence asking for further details of the information contained in the paper folders, mentioned in my letter to you of 18 July 1995 (Official Report, column 1174), relating to service volunteers at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE), Porton Down; what information was released to volunteers and their medical practitioners; and whether volunteers were informed of the substances being tested on them have been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Defence Research and Evaluation Agency (DERA) which includes CBDE as one of its divisions. I am answering all three questions in this letter.The paper folders to which I referred in my letter of 18 July have been used at CBDE Porton Down since 1980 and contain details of medical examinations conducted on each volunteer as they join and leave CDBE. Access to this information is now in accordance with the 'Access to Health Records Act 1990' which gives patients the right to see or obtain copies of their health records compiled after 1 November 1991. In fact, it has always been CBDE policy to release medical details to medical practitioners on request. Experimental data and study details are held separately and this information is also usually available to medical practitioners on request. Medical practitioners are at liberty to show any of this information to their patients.Volunteers at Porton Down have always, as a matter of course. been informed of the name, nature and possible short term outcome of any chemical or chemical agent used in studies in which they are going to participate. The only exception was in studies using psychotomimetric drugs, such as the trials involving LSD in the 317W 1960s, where it was considered that to do so might prejudice the scientific integrity of the study. Those volunteers were, however informed of the nature of the drug and the type of short term effects it might induce. Once any volunteer has been given this information they are given time to consider and ask further questions before proceeding with the trial. They are free then, and at any subsequent time during the study, to withdraw without giving a reason. These safeguards have been enshrined in the Nuremburg Code since the 1940s but had, to the best of our knowledge, always been the practice at Porton Down.I hope this information is helpful.
§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down recruited volunteers for its service volunteers programme. [7297]
§ Mr. SoamesThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 11 January 1996:
Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking how the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) at Porton Down recruits volunteers for the service volunteer programme has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which includes CBDE as one of its divisions.CBDE recruits volunteers for the research programme by placing its requirements in Defence Council Instructions, a form of internal notices, which are issued to all military units. Service personnel wishing to volunteer apply to their unit's administrative staff who pass the details to CBDE.I hope this information is useful.
§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service volunteers were involved in the trials to determine the dispersion of chemical agents carried out in the underground sampling chambers at the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down; which chemical agents were used in trials in these underground chambers; if these underground chambers were used for any other purposes; and in what year these underground chambers were last used. [7307]
§ Mr. SoamesThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter front John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 11 January 1996:
Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking how many service volunteers were involved in the trials to determine the dispersion of chemical agents carried out in the underground sampling chambers at the former Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down, which agents were used in these trials, what other studies were conducted in the underground chambers and in what year they were last used has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which includes the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) as one of its divisions.No service volunteers have been involved in the studies conducted using the underground sampling chambers at CBDE Porton Down. These chambers, which were originally water reservoirs for the now 318W demolished farmhouse known as Old Lodge, were last used in the early 1960s for trials with riot control agents such as CS.I hope this information is helpful.
§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence to what extent tests and studies involving service personnel in the service volunteer programme at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down since 1965 have conformed to the Nuremburg code and Helsinki declarations on medical research on humans in respect of compensation; and if he will make a statement. [7308]
§ Mr. SoamesThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 11 January 1996:
Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking whether tests and studies involving service personnel in the service volunteer programme at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) at Porton Down since 1965 have conformed to the Nuremburg Code and Helsinki Declaration on medical research on humans with regard to the principle that persons should be compensated for any injury or loss caused by the experiments has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which includes CBDE as one of its divisions.All volunteer studies conducted at CBDE since 1965 have been carried out according to a written protocol approved by the Committee for the Safety of Human Experiments (COSHE), a committee of Porton Down medical practitioners and sometimes including external experts. Since 1991 protocols have been formally submitted to an independent Ethics Committee for approval before the studies begin. Any member of HM Armed Forces who suffers an injury that is attributable to service (including participation in studies at CBDE Porton Down) would be entitled to a War Pension. Claims for compensation, other than for a War Pension would be considered on a case by case basis. Compensation would be awarded, if appropriate, following a full examination of the facts.I hope this information is helpful.
§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what rules govern participation by service personnel who have recently given blood in the service volunteers programme at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down; what is the reason for this policy; and when it was introduced. [7301]
§ Mr. SoamesThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 11 January 1996:
Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what rules govern the participation by service personnel who have recently given blood in the service volunteer programme at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down, what is the reason for this policy and when it was introduced has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which includes CBDE as one of its divisions.It is CBDE's policy that those who participate in the Volunteer Programme must be medically fit to take part in the studies required. It is therefore part of the procedures for acceptance onto the programme to conduct a medical examination of the volunteer.319WWhen a study will involve taking multiple blood samples the medical examination includes a red blood cell count. If this is not within acceptable parameters (perhaps as the result of recent blood donation) the volunteer is not accepted for the study. Trials since the early 1940s have involved multiple blood sampling and we believe that the policy of using red blood cell count as part of the acceptance procedure for this type of study has existed since this date.I hope this information is helpful.
§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what details of experiments are given to hon. Members who write to the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down requesting information about such experiments on behalf of individuals who have taken part in those experiments during the service volunteers programme; and if such hon. Members receive more detailed information of such experiments than the patient's medical practitioners. [7356]
§ Mr. SoamesThis is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 11 January 1996:
Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking whether the information given to honourable members about the service volunteer programme at the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down is more detailed than that given to the volunteers' medical practitioners has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which includes CBDE as one of its divisions.It has been CBDE's policy for many years to provide details of the type of studies in which a volunteer participated to an honourable member requesting this information on behalf of a constituent. The information provided to the honourable member is similar to that provided to the volunteer's medical practitioner with the exception that any medical details regarding the individual are provided solely to their medical practitioner and not to a third party such as the honourable member.I hope this information is helpful.