SEVENTH REPORT
The Defence Committee has agreed to the following
Report:—
GULF VETERANS' ILLNESSES
INTRODUCTION
1. It is nine years since the Gulf War ended. Concerns
about illnesses experienced by Gulf War veterans, possibly arising
from their service there, began to emerge in June 1993 and our
predecessor Committee then began seeking written evidence from
the Ministry of Defence (MoD). They produced two Reports[8]
which highlighted, in particular, the lack of progress in identifying
possible causes of veterans' illnesses and the difficulty veterans
had encountered in obtaining a satisfactory response to their
health and associated problems from the Ministry of Defence.
2. Our activity in relation to Gulf War illnesses
began soon after this Committee was nominated in July 1997. We
were aware of the continuing frustration veterans felt and we
therefore decided to take evidence from the then Minister of State
for the Armed Forces (Dr Reid) and officials,[9]
at an early opportunity, following publication by the new government
of its document entitled Gulf Veterans' Illnesses: A New Beginning.[10]
In April 1999, we followed this up with evidence from Dr Reid's
successor (Mr Henderson) to assess how well the MoD was fulfilling
the new undertakings to Gulf veterans contained in that document.
In a further oral evidence session in December 1999, we then heard
the views of two of the organisations which represent veterans:
the Gulf Veterans' Association, which has a registered membership
of over 2,500,[11]
and the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association.
3. No reliable figure can yet be put on the number
of people affected by illnesses which may be attributable to their
service in the Gulf. However, one indication of the number who
themselves ascribe their ill health to the Gulf War is that to
date 2,934 of the 53,462 UK forces personnel deployed to the Gulf
(5.5 per cent) have been examined by the MoD's Medical Assessment
Programme.[12]
In the United States there are approximately 697,000 Gulf veterans,
10 per cent of whom have undergone health examinations organised
by the Department of Defence or the Department of Veterans' Affairs.[13]
4. Like our predecessors, we have taken the opportunity
during visits to Washington to discuss the latest developments
on Gulf War illnesses with experts from the Department of Defense,
the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and the General Accounting
Office, most recently in October 1999. We are grateful to all
who have contributed to those very informative discussions.
8 Eleventh Report, Session 1994-95, Gulf War Syndrome,
HC 197; Sixth Report, Session 1996-97, Gulf War Illnesses:
Latest Developments, HC 158 Back
9 Minutes
of Evidence, 29 July 1997, HC 222-i (Session 1997-98) Back
10 Gulf
Veterans' Illnesses: A New Beginning,
MoD, July 1997 Back
11 Ev
p 26 Back
12 Ev
p 88 Back
13 Ev
p 87; General Accounting Office, Gulf War Illnesses: Management
Actions Needed to Answer Basic Research Questions, January
2000, p 3 Back
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