§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the RAND Corporation report entitled, "A Review of the Scientific Literature as it Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses, volume II: Pyridostigmine Bromide". [123223]
§ Mr. SpellarThe RAND report, which is a comprehensive compilation of published literature on pyridostigmine bromide (PB) and its relationship to Gulf Veterans' Illnesses (GVI), has now been carefully reviewed and a written assessment of the report has been produced. I am placing a copy of this assessment in the Library of the House.
The RAND report does not present any new work on pyridostigmine bromide. It concentrates on several hypotheses of how PB might be the cause of GVI and to a lesser extent discusses the effectiveness of PB. Although a number of theories have been identified they have not, in our view, been critically evaluated and there is no differentiation between the credibility and the value of the various pieces of research. The report gives no guidance as to which of the various hypotheses is worthy of further investigation or for the prioritisation of further research. The approach and methodology adopted for this review do not advance the debate on whether PB is possibly linked to illness in Gulf veterans.