HC Deb 29 June 1998 vol 315 c73W
Dr. Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received relating to adverse health effects suffered by Iraqi people as a result of the use of depleted uranium shells to attack Iraq. [45759]

Dr. Reid

I have been asked to reply.

The Government are aware of a number of recent media reports which have suggested that there has been an increase in the incidence of ill-health, particularly cancers and birth defects, amongst the population in southern Iraq which some have attributed to the use of depleted uranium (DU) based ammunition by Coalition forces during the Gulf conflict. These suggestions were also raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Kelvin (Mr. Galloway) during an adjournment debate on the Middle East on 27 March 1998, Official Report, columns 872–76. A copy of the Government's response to my hon. Friend, setting out the Government's position on this matter, has already been placed in the Library of the House.

More recently, on 24 May, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf, wrote to the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, claiming the right to compensation from the UK for damage allegedly caused by the use of DU-based ammunition by UK forces during the Gulf War. In this letter, Mr. Al-Sahaf attributed a reported increase in ill-health in Iraq to the use of DU-based ammunition.

However, the letter contained no statistical information of any kind to substantiate these assertions. Since the Government have seen no epidemiological research data on the Iraqi population we therefore cannot comment on whether there may be an unusually high incidence of ill-health in southern Iraq. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the illnesses of the types listed in Mr. Al-Sahaf's letter—foetal malformations, bone deformities, hair loss, skin disease and child leukaemia—are uniquely associated with exposure to DU. We would of course consider carefully any medical or scientific data which was presented on this subject.

The UK Government responded to Mr. Al-Sahaf's letter on 16 June, rebutting Iraq's claims, in a letter from the UK's Permanent Representative at the UN, Sir John Weston, to Mr. Annan. I am placing copies of the Iraqi letter and Sir John Weston's response in the Library of the House.