§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Mr. Wyatt) of 5 June 2000,Official Report, column 17W, on Porton Down, if he will make a statement on (a) the species of animals involved in, (b) the number of and (c) the types of, experiments performed by the Chemical and Biological Defence Sector for the US Department of Defense. [125675]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 12 June 2000]: The work being undertaken by the Chemical and Biological Defence Sector, Porton Down, as referred to in my answer provided on 5 June, is being conducted through a contractor for the US Department of Defense. The aim of the work is to produce a fully licensed vaccine against a potential biological warfare agent. Such a vaccine would also be potentially useful in countries where the disease 27W is naturally present. The study at Porton Down involves evaluating the ability of the prospective vaccine to prevent disease and to investigate safety aspects of possible use.
Details of the study are commercially sensitive and I am withholding this information under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice of Access to Government Information.