GULF  WAR  VICTIMS: 

“MINISTERS ADD INSULT TO INJURY”

Defence Ministers have been accused in the House of Lords of misrepresenting the results of research into illnesses caused by service in the 1990-1 Gulf War.

Liberal Democrat Peer, Lord (Paul) Tyler, urged the Ministry of Defence to “clear this matter up once and for all” by meeting the Royal British Legion Gulf War Group and representatives of the veterans who are victims of these illnesses.

The Legion had protested that the research study to which Derek Twigg, Veterans Minister, referred was concerned only with theoretical studies of the effect of vaccine “cocktails” on marmosets and mice, not with analysis of the impact on actual human victims.  The Legion’s Director General said “The Minister is effectively telling people who have been left in broken health that there was no problem with the vaccines or NAPs tablets that there were given, because marmosets and mice had no adverse reactions when administered.   This is yet another insult to Gulf Veterans and their families who are no clearer about the causes of their medically unexplained illnesses.”

In the House of Lords this issue surfaced at the start of business on Wednesday 22 November.   Lord Tyler referred to this accusation of misrepresentation, but Defence Minister Lord Drayson angrily denied this.

A series of Peers who have campaigned for the victims of Gulf War illnesses pressed Lord Drayson to be more responsive to veterans’ needs and concerns.   He promised Lord Tyler that the Veterans Minister will meet representatives of the Royal British Legion as soon as possible.

Other Peers demanded to know why the Ministry were still resisting pension appeals from troops who had been badly affected, and why victims whose previous claims had been rejected had not been directly contacted to draw their attention to new possibilities of compensation.

After these exchanges Lord Tyler said he was frustrated by the lack of progress:   “the American administration have invested some £40 million in research to establish both the causes and best treatments for these illnesses, while the Government here seems determined to try to whitewash the whole impact of the vaccination programme.  Since they have already admitted that they have lost or destroyed most of the records of the sequency and frequency of the administration these ‘cocktails’ this Ministerial complacency adds insult to injury.”