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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the research conducted by Professor Hari Sharma of the University of Waterloo into links between illnesses in Gulf war veterans and exposure to depleted uranium, a copy of which was provided to his Department. [94150] Mr. Spellar: On 18 March 1999, my Department received a copy of a letter from Professor Sharma to the Chairman of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (NGV&FA) about testing the urine of some UK Gulf veterans for uranium isotopes. The content of the letter was assessed by the Ministry of Defence's statutorily appointed radiation protection advisers who concluded that it did not contain sufficient scientific information for the Department to properly review the research nor interpret Professor Sharma's results. Despite requests to Professor Sharma and the NGV&FA, as at 15 October 1999, my Department is yet to see scientifically robust, properly validated, and preferably peer reviewed hypotheses, methodologies and full results of Professor Sharma's work. My Department remains open minded on the issue of Gulf veterans' illnesses and keeps the situation under constant review as scientific knowledge develops. In the meantime, we have offered a further test to the veterans concerned. This would be undertaken at three testing establishments including one to be nominated by the veterans.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

94150; 337 c213W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Armed forces Iraq-Kuwait conflict Medical examinations Research Gulf War syndrome Depleted uranium Veterans