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Written question asked by Lord Morris of Manchester (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 July 2009.

Gulf War Illnesses

Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 18 June (Official Report, House of Lords, col. 226), whether she has now seen the letter dated 24 April from the Senior Programme Officer of the United States Institute of Medicine (IOM) referred to by Lord Tunnicliffe on 27 April (Official Report, House of Lords, cols. 8–10); and whether the department's stated understanding that the IOM was then reviewing the report of the Congressionally-mandated United States Research Advisory Committee's inquiry into Gulf War illnesses and would be reporting on it by February 2010 has been revised.
Answer

The Government have seen an e-mail from the senior programme officer of the US Institute of Medicine (IOM). The e-mail explains that peer review of the United States Research Advisory Committee (RAC) report is not taking place. That is in line with the Government's understanding of the position. Following my meeting with the noble Lord, Lord Morris, on 15 July, I instructed officials to hold further discussions with the US Department for Veterans Affairs and with the IOM. As a result, I can confirm that an IOM committee is conducting a study entitled Gulf War & Health (Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War-Update 2009), in effect summarising and reporting on peer-reviewed scientific literature published since the IOM's last report in 2006. The RAC Report of Gulf War Veterans Illness falls within this timeframe. The RAC report represents a body of work whose key findings are inconsistent with numerous previous studies on this subject by the US IOM. It is for this reason that the Department of Veterans Affairs asked the IOM committee to engage with the RAC and to consider the same scientific literature that the RAC used to come to its conclusions. The IOM committee is expected to report in February 2010. The IOM is an independent scientific body, and the degree to which it will consider the findings of the RAC report remains uncertain at this stage. The British Government's position is that we will not comment on the RAC report until the IOM issues its own report.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
4858; 712 c336-7WA
Session
2008-09
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Subjects
Iraq-Kuwait conflict Research USA Gulf War syndrome US Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses US Institute of Medicine Veterans
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk