HC Deb 06 March 1997 vol 291 c719W
Mr. Alfred Morris

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make arrangements for an urgent review of war pension claims made by ex-service men and women who were exposed to the effects of the use of organophosphates during service in the Gulf war. [18825]

Mr. Heald

No. Under the war pensions scheme, the initial onus is on the claimant to show disablement. Where disablement has been shown to exist, present medical evidence does not support a causal relation to exposure to organophosphates. Present medical understanding is that exposure would result in symptoms arising in close time relation. Many claims made as a result of service in the Gulf, however, are made in respect of symptoms which arose several years after service ended.

Nevertheless, where disablement has been shown and where the claim is made within seven years of termination of service, because the onus is on the Secretary of State to show beyond reasonable doubt that disablement is not attributable to service, unless there is a clear non-service cause of disablement, war pensions have been, and will continue to be awarded.