§ The Countess of Marasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Gilbert on 12 November 1998 (WA 118), whether they are aware of the objection to some of the terms of reference of the independent panel of the Ministry of Defence for interactions between vaccines and Nerve Agent Pretreatment Sets and of the proposals made verbally at the second meeting of the panel and confirmed later in writing by the Gulf Veterans' Association representative member of the panel; and, if, so, what were their responses to these submissions. [HL672]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert)The terms of reference of the independent panel that oversees the MOD's research programme into the possible adverse health effects of the combination of vaccines and tablets given to troops during the Gulf conflict to protect them against biological and chemical warfare agents were discussed and accepted at its first meeting, on 18 December 1997, with one minor amendment relating to the panel's responsibility to ensure that the research results arising from the programme were published appropriately. At the panel's second meeting, on 24 February 1998, a newly appointed member, who had not attended the previous meeting, questioned the scope of the panel's remit. It was explained that the panel had been called together specifically to oversee the interactions research programme and to consider the merits of other proposals in the same area. The expertise of individual panel members reflected this requirement. It was also explained that MOD receives general scientific advice and guidance on Gulf veterans' illnesses issues from the Medical Research Council, which has established a Gulf Health Steering Committee. We understand that the panel member who raised the issue ofterms of reference at the meeting of 24 February, subsequently wrote to the panel chairman about this and a number of other matters. However, this correspondence was not copied to the MOD and I cannot, therefore, comment further.