§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department recognises Gulf War Syndrome as a medical condition; and if he will make a statement. [60333]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 13 June 2002]: My Department does not recognise "Gulf War Syndrome" as a medical condition. It accepts that some veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict have become ill and that many attribute this ill health to their Gulf experience. A large number of multi-system, multi-organ, non-specific, medically unexplained symptoms have been reported by 227W some Gulf veterans as well as recognised medical conditions. The overwhelming consensus of the scientific and medical community is that there is insufficient evidence to enable this ill-health to be characterised as a unique illness or "syndrome".