Written question asked by Marquess of Lothian (Conservative) on Monday, 6 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 8 February 2006. It was answered by Lord Touhig (Labour) on Monday, 13 February 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Gulf War-related Illnesses

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to what extent the decision to provide nerve agent pre-treatment tablets to forces serving during the Iraq war in 2003 was based upon information on chemical weapons in Iraq; what chemical weapons were identified in this information; and for how many of those chemicals the information on use in Iraq was not borne out by the report of the Iraq Survey Group.

Answer: In preparing for operations in Iraq, an assessment was produced on the likely CBRN threats to UK forces. A number of nerve agents were assessed to be available for use by the Iraqi regime. Delivery systems were assessed to include mortars, artillery, rocket artillery, aerial bombs, ballistic missiles, spray tanks and UAVs.The decision to issue NAPS, a licensed pre-treatment for nerve agent poisoning, to UK deployed forces and subsequently to order its use was a sensible and prudent measure, partly based upon this assessment and Iraq's previous use of CW during the Iran/Iraq war and against the citizens of Hallabja.The Iraq Survey Group did not discover any large scale CW agent production facilities or stockpiles. However, in their findings they judged that Iraq had the intention to pursue WMD programmes when UN sanctions were lifted.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 50301; 442 c1583W;442 c1583W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Armed forces Chemical and biological warfare Health hazards Iraq Iraq conflict
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk