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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of (a) the stockpiles of and (b) the availability of production facilities for (i) chemical agent VX, (ii) ricin and (iii) anthrax in Iraq. [22973] Mr. George Robertson: Before the Gulf war, Iraq had developed a significant chemical and biological warfare capability, a capability which she has since admitted using against Iran and has also deployed against her own people. The valuable work of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) over the past seven years has reduced, but not entirely eliminated, Iraq's capability in this field. The possibility therefore, that Iraq retains a small number of chemical and biological agents, possibly including VX agent, ricin and anthrax, cannot be ruled out. It has not been possible, for example, to confirm that all the VX agent which Iraq claims to have produced has been destroyed. UNSCOM has reported the supervised destruction of a pilot VX production plant. But the production of small quantities of VX could still be concealed within university laboratories or the chemical industry. In addition, whilst Iraq has told UNSCOM that it examined the potential of the plant toxin ricin without success, we cannot confirm that she has given a truthful account of her interest in ricin or that she has destroyed all stocks of the anthrax spores which she claims to have done. Again, Iraq could conceal production of biological warfare agents in facilities associated with biomedical research. Even if she does not possess such stocks, Iraq could be capable of producing small quantities of chemical and biological agents; a significant capability. Since we cannot vouch for Iraq's intentions in the future, UNSCOM's work must continue until the UN Security Council are satisfied that Iraq is complying with all relevant resolutions of the United Nations.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

22973; 304 c624W;304 c618W

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Chemical and biological warfare Chemical weapons Biological weapons Iraq