§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent research he has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated regarding the causes of Gulf War Syndrome illnesses. [38601]
§ Mr. ReedTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what research is currently being carried out on behalf of his Department into the effects of Gulf War Syndrome on servicemen; [44673]
(2) what criteria are used to select control groups in studies into Gulf War Syndrome; [44675]
(3) how many servicemen are currently participating in studies of Gulf War Syndrome. [44674]
§ Dr. ReidIn addition to our present work on the subject of illnesses suffered by Gulf War Veterans, I am today announcing that MOD will be funding an independent systematic literature review of worldwide published research relating to Gulf veterans' illnesses. This decision follows a recommendation from the Medical Research Council (MRC) who advise the Government on research aimed at addressing Gulf veterans' health concerns. The review will be carried by a team led by Professor Glyn Lewis at the University of Wales at Cardiff and will cost £75k over three years. The findings of the review will be published at regular intervals.
The Government are already funding two major epidemiological studies to look at the health of Gulf veterans and their families. One study, under Professor Nicola Cherry at Manchester University, aims to determine whether Gulf veterans are experiencing greater ill-health than service personnel who did not take part in the conflict and will involve a total of 9,600 Gulf veterans, plus a control group of 4,800 personnel. The other study, under Dr. Patricia Doyle at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, will examine the reproductive health of Gulf veterans and the health of their children. Dr. Doyle aims to contact all personnel who served in the Gulf, some 53,000 in all, plus a control sample of the same size. Controls for these studies are drawn from personnel who were serving at the time of the Gulf War but did not deploy there.
A further epidemiological study looking at whether service in the Gulf is associated with increased illness of UK veterans is being funded by the US Department of Defense and carried out by Professor Wessely at Kings College School of Medicine. Although this study is being 8W carried out independently of MOD, the Department is co-operating with Professor Wessely by providing essential data to the study team. This study involves 4,250 Gulf veterans and two control groups: one of 4,250 non-Gulf personnel and another of 4,250 personnel who have served in Bosnia. The control groups have been randomly selected to form a sample similar to the Gulf cohort on the basis of Service, age, sex and Officer/Other ranks status. The Army and RAF samples are also selected according to Regular/Reservist status and fitness.
The Government are also funding King's College, London to carry out a clinical study under Dr. Michael Rose and Dr. Mohammad Sharief. The study will focus on those veterans who have, according to their response to the epidemiological study carried out under Professor Wessely, significant neuromuscular symptoms.
Control subjects for this study will be randomly selected through Professor Wessely's epidemiological study and will include Gulf veterans who do not exhibit any neuromuscular symptoms, Service and ex-Service personnel who were serving at the time of the Gulf War but did not deploy there and personnel who have served in Bosnia. In addition, a group of civilian patients will be used to validate the research methodology, although they will not be used for comparison as part of the study.
The Government are also funding a programme of research to investigate the possible adverse health effects of the combination of vaccines and tablets which were given to troops in the Gulf to protect them against biological and chemical warfare agent. This research is based principally on animal studies, but it is also planned to monitor the health of staff at Porton Down who receive multiple vaccinations as part of their normal safety regime.