§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has established the origin of anthrax and other vaccines washed up on the South Dorset coast; and if he will make a statement. [93167]
§ Dr. MoonieThe anthrax vaccine found on the South Dorset coast is from a batch produced by the centre for Applied Microbiology and Research and purchased by the Ministry of Defence in February 2001. Because ampoules from the batch were issued to a large number of units it has not yet been possible to identify how they came to be in the sea. As far as we are aware, this is the only vaccine found, although a number of other pharmaceutical products, including drugs, have been recovered. Investigations into the source of the items found are continuing.