All news on this page courtesy of the The Times & Sunday Times Newspapers, London, UK

13 May 1997

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

BY MICHAEL EVANS, DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT

JOHN REID, the Armed Forces Minister, has stepped in quickly to reinforce the Government's determination to solve the mystery of the Gulf War illnesses affecting more than 1,200 veterans of the 1991 conflict.

However, the language he used in a series of interviews yesterday underlined the difficult challenge the Labour Government has inherited from the Conservatives. He could not promise immediate compensation, he admitted that the research would take several years and he confirmed that there was no evidence to suggest that a unique illness existed, although some veterans were clearly ill.

Dr Reid's approach, however, was to inject the idea of a "fresh start" and to promise that resources would be found to pay for whatever research was needed. He said the attitude of the previous Government had been "deplorable" but underlined his support for the £1.32 million epidemiological study announced in December last year by Nicholas Soames, then Armed Forces Minister. That alone would reveal whether there was an excess of ill health among Gulf veterans, Dr Reid's aides said.

His main initiative, the promise of additional research into the possible damaging combination of multiple vaccines and anti-nerve gas tablets to counter Iraqi chemical and biological warfare, will be an internal MoD project.

At the behest of the MoD, the Medical Research Council is supervising the other research programmes, and one official at the council cast doubt yesterday on the scientific value of Dr Reid's new research proposal.

The official said that even if it could be shown that some soldiers suffered side-effects from the combination of drugs, that would not be scientifically conclusive and could be "a waste of money".

The Medical Research Council received more than 30 proposals for research into Gulf War illnesses, some of which, it is understood, would have focused on the combination of drugs received by the veterans. However, the council recommended only two projects: a study of ill health among veterans by Nicola Cherry of Manchester University, and a study of the reproductive health of Gulf War veterans and the health of their children by Patrician Doyle at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Another epidemiological study, funded by the United States Defence Department, is being carried out by King's College London.

Dr Reid said yesterday: "We cannot promise instant or indeed definitive solutions to this difficult problem, but we wanted to make it clear at an early stage that this issue is a priority for the new Government." He has told the MoD that he wants a full explanation of the scientific basis on which chemical and biological counter-measures were used in the Gulf, and the way the vaccination programme was handled in the field.

He said he was appalled that more than 300 Gulf War veterans were still waiting to be examined under the ministry's medical assessment programme. "We will accelerate the assessment programme."

Darren Lauder, of the Gulf War Veterans Association, a 28-year-old former Royal Engineer who served in the Gulf, said: "We can't raise too many hopes with this new initiative, although it's a step in the right direction. The trouble is this research takes such a long time; what we want is to get the proper medical treatment and to go back to leading normal lives again."