Written question asked by Lord Morris of Manchester (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour) on Monday, 26 January 2009.

Gulf War: NAPS Tablets

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many personal medical records of British troops deployed to the 1990–91 Gulf conflict have details of the use and administering of nerve agent pre-treatment sets (NAPS) tablets.

Answer: This information is not held centrally. We would need the permission of 1990-91 Gulf veterans before reviewing individual medical records to collate the necessary information (if available) and this could only be provided at disproportionate cost. In October 2001, MoD published the paper Medical Records in the Gulf. This paper describes the arrangements for medical record-keeping during the 1990-91 Gulf conflict and discusses a number of reasons why records that were kept may not have been complete. A copy of this paper is available in the Library of the House. The MoD's Vaccines Interactions Research Programme addressed the possible adverse health effects of the combination of vaccines and tablets (NAPS) given to troops to protect them against the threat of biological and chemical warfare. This showed that there would not have been adverse effects on 19 October 2006 (Official Report, col. WS 87).

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 531; 707 c9WA
Session: 2008-09
Related items: Gulf War Illnesses
Thursday, 19 October 2006
Written statements
House of Lords
Subjects: Chemical weapons Health hazards Drugs Iraq-Kuwait conflict Medical records Preventive medicine Gulf War syndrome Veterans
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk