BBC 30th October 1997

Gulf War soldiers vaccinated with unlicensed drugs

The Army used medically harmful and unlicensed drugs to vaccinate soldiers in the Gulf War - in spite of health officials misgivings - a British government inquiry has revealed.

In a damning report on so-called Gulf War Syndrome, the Ministry of Defence said its own officials failed to deal with health warnings about a vaccine taken by British troops to protect them against biological and chemical weapons.

The Defence Minister, John Reid, told Parliament his ministry did not act on the advice that a cocktail of vaccines could have negative side-effects if taken together because a faxed warning in December 1990 was never seen by senior officials.

Since returning from the Middle East, several thousand US and British servicemen have suffered from illnesses ranging from chronic fatigue, respiratory problems, weight and memory loss to depression - grouped together under the name Gulf War Syndrome.

Mr Reid, who ordered the inquiry in July, said the Health Department's faxed warning was overlooked due to "the extremely busy period leading up to the Gulf War."

Health Department concerns centered around plans to use the whooping cough vaccine, pertussis, as an accelerator with the anthrax vaccine to shorten the time the anthrax vaccine kicks in.

Health officials told the Ministry of Defence that although pertussis had been declared safe on children, it had not been passed for adult use.

They also warned that laboratory animal tests showed that when pertussis was taken with other vaccines, the animals suffered weight loss.

Mr Reid also admitted that British troops had taken an anti-plague vaccine which, although licensed in the US and Canada, had not been licensed in Britain.

The minister promised "to get rid of the distrust" and pursue "a policy of openness, whatever the difficulties and however many uncomfortable questions it may raise."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said military planners had been faced with a stark choice - give soldiers unlicensed vaccines in complex combinations, or leave them exposed to the threat of being killed by Iraq's biological and chemical weapons.

Veterans' groups welcomed the admission, but said they wanted more information.

"What we would like to see is a full public inquiry so that we can get to the bottom of the problems that we are suffering from," said Tony Flint from Britain's National Gulf Veterans and Families Association.

Lawyer Hilary Meredith, who is representing 1,300 veterans, said: "It is not only negligence but gross negligence, verging on recklessness. You wonder how they won the war."

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