HC Deb 25 January 1996 vol 270 cc326-7W
Dr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will specify which Porton Down technical papers contain the descriptions and results of the LSD experiments which were conducted(a) in the laboratory and (b) in the field by the Chemical Defence Establishment; and which are currently unclassified. [11809]

Mr. Arbuthnot

This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from John Chisholm to Dr. David Clark, dated 25 January 1996: Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking which Porton Down Technical Papers contain the descriptions and results of the LSD experiments which were conducted (a) in the laboratory and (b) in the field by the Chemical Defence Establishment; and which are currently unclassified has been passed to me to reply as the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which now includes the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) A search of the CBDE Information Service's list of technical papers produced by CBDE and its predecessor organisations at Porton Down has identified four published papers concerning the work conducted with LSD in the 1960s. Three of these reports are concerned with the field studies. These are Porton Technical Paper 936 "A field experiment using LSD25 on trained troops", Porton Technical Paper 979 "Recount—A second field experiment to assess the effects of T3456 on trained troops" and Technical Note 53 "Small Change—A brief preliminary report". As you know we have recently arranged for these papers to be made available in the Public Record Office at Kew at the end of January in response to your earlier request to see information relating to trials with LSD involving service volunteers. We have recently located a fourth report, Technical Note 5 "The determination of T3456 in human plasma following oral administration" which concerns the laboratory based development of an analytical method to detect low levels of LSD in human plasma. This report is not yet in the Public Records Office but arrangements can be made for its early release should this be required. The library search also identified eight papers which include references to laboratory work involving LSD and other substances being tested on animals. The work was primarily concerned with analytical methods and the papers remain classified. I hope this information is helpful.