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Written question asked by Marquess of Lothian (Conservative) on Tuesday, 17 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 January 2006. It was answered by Lord Touhig (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 February 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq

Question
(2) what percentage of (a) the 7th Armoured Brigade, (b) 3 Commando Brigade, (c) 16 Air Assault Brigade, (d) 102 Logistics Brigade, (e) HQ Armoured Division, (f) Royal Naval personnel in the Gulf and (g) Royal Air Force personnel in the Gulf took nerve agent pre-treatment tablets during the 2003 invasion of Iraq on Op Telic; and for how many days in each case;
Answer

Nerve agent pre-treatment sets (NAPS) tablets were issued to armed forces personnel serving with Operation Telic in single strips of 21 tablets. The recommended dosage rate is one Pyridostigmine Bromide (30mg) tablet every eight hours—ie three per day. Thus, a single strip contains a week's supply.A total of 7,266,504 tablets were supplied to Operation Telic, in the form of 346,024 strips of 21. These were issued to approximately 32,000 personnel, over a three month period as follows:

Month Strips supplied Total tablets
January 2003 85,573 1,797,033
February 2003 155,541 3,266,361
March 2003 104,910 2,203,110
Total 346,024 7,266,504

Information is not held centrally on how many of these tablets were then issued locally to individual units in theatre, and could only therefore be provided at disproportionate cost.Nor is it known how many tablets were actually taken daily by individual personnel. This is because the tablets were self-administered by personnel on command, rather than being administered by medical officers. For this same reason, information is not held as to what percentage of personnel took the tablets.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
44222; 442 c509-10W;442 c509-10W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Armed forces Armed conflict Drugs Iraq Medical treatments Iraq conflict Pyridostigmine bromide
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk