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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Gulf veterans have died since April 1995; how many of them (a) claimed to be suffering from Gulf War Syndrome and (b) claimed to be suffering from symptoms of an ill-defined nature caused by service in the Gulf War; how many deaths in (a) and (b) were suicides; and if he will make a statement. [141017] Mr. Spellar: According to my Department's records, in the period 1 April 1995 to 28 November 2000, 278 UK Gulf veterans (service and ex-service personnel) died. None of these records show "Gulf War Syndrome" as a cause of death. Records are not available indicating whether those who died claimed to be suffering from Gulf War Syndrome or whether they claimed to be suffering from the symptoms of an ill-defined nature caused by service in the Gulf conflict. Of the 278 UK Gulf veterans who died, 50 deaths were categorised under the International Classification of Diseases 9th Edition Revision 1977 as due to suicide and injury undetermined whether accidental or intentional. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) on 20 July 2000, Official Report, columns 247-48W, regarding mortality data covering the period 1 April 1991 to 30 June 2000 comparing the UK Gulf veterans to a matched control group.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

357 c726W; 141017

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Armed forces Death Diseases Iraq-Kuwait conflict Suicide Gulf War syndrome Veterans

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk