KHAMISIYAH
60. The MoD has also published a review of the circumstances
surrounding the release of nerve agent at Khamisiyah, an Iraqi
ammunition storage facility in Southern Iraq, and the implications
for UK service personnel based in the area.[157]
At the end of the Gulf conflict, in March 1991, US troops demolished
the Khamisiyah depot as part of measures to ensure that equipment
and facilities which had been overrun by coalition forces would
not continue to be available to the Iraqis. It was discovered
subsequently that a number of the rockets destroyed contained
sarin/cyclosarin nerve agent.[158]
The first indications of this came in May 1991 and it was verified
by United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) inspectors
in October that year. The MoD has always acknowledged that the
release of nerve agent took place. The area of uncertainty has
been over which UK personnel were in the location at the time.
61. Detailed investigation of the incident has been
conducted by the US Department of Defense and the CIA and has
involved seeking to ascertain the likely dispersal of the portion
of the nerve agent which might have been released into the atmosphere.
This has involved computer modelling of the plume of aerosolised
nerve agent to show its likely movement, taking account of wind
speed and direction. The computer modelling also attempted to
assess the possible concentration of nerve agent across the plume.
Initial projections were published in September 1997 but following
criticisms from other US agencies, re-modelling is under way.[159]
62. The UK's interest arises from the possible exposure
of UK personnel because a number of units are known to have been
in the area at the time. The worst case model indicates that 9,000
UK personnel would have been in the area. The total number whose
units were definitely within the modelled plume is 3,800, although
not all personnel would have been present in their units at the
time. Particular attention has focused on the members of 32 Field
Hospital as they have always been assumed to have been in the
affected region.
63. The review concludes that—
Exposure might have happened,
but there is no evidence at all that any actually did happen.
Even if troops had been exposed to nerve agent at the exceptionally
low levels modelled, the impact of this on their levels of acetylcholinesterase
would have been much less than the impact of normal bodily variations.
There would have been no biologically detectable effect. There
is no evidence to suggest that there are adverse long term health
effects from temporary exposure to the levels of sarin postulated
in the model. However ... the UK is monitoring closely a substantial
programme of US research which is looking at the effects of chronic
and low dose exposure to chemical warfare agents.[160]
CONCLUSION
64. It is regrettable that these studies took
so long to get off the ground as the time lapse can only have
had an adverse effect on the discoverable evidence. However, we
are impressed with the level of detail contained in the studies,
and the clarity with which they explain what occurred and the
implications for UK personnel. In producing such research
studies, the government is abiding by the principles it set out
in 1997, that there would be 'appropriate research into veterans'
illnesses and factors which might have a bearing on these' and
that the MoD would 'make available to the public any information
it possesses which is of potential relevance to this issue'.[161]
65. The MoD has made good progress, therefore,
in establishing what took place and addressing specific areas
of concern which have been highlighted by veterans. The findings
of this research are consistent with the view expressed to us
in the United States, that it is likely that there is no single
cause of Gulf veterans' illnesses. If further progress is to be
made in understanding the nature of Gulf veterans' illnesses,
detailed work will need to be carried out to ascertain whether
there are any links between possible exposures veterans might
have suffered and the symptoms which some are now exhibiting.
78 Eleventh Report, Session 1994-95, op cit,
paras 3-8 Back
79 Sixth
Report, Session 1996-97, op cit, para 33 Back
80 ibid Back
81 Organophosphate
Pesticide Investigation Team, Substantive Report, MoD, December
1996 Back
82 ibid,
para 1.B.12 Back
83 Q
161 Back
84 Ev
p 41 Back
85 Ev
p 82 Back
86 Ev
p 82 Back
87 Ev
p 90 Back
88 HC
Deb., 20 January 2000, cc 535-536w Back
89 RAND
National Defence Research Institute report, A review of the
literature as it pertains to Gulf War illness, Vol 7, Depleted
Uranium, 1998 Back
90 HC
Deb., 14 March 2000, cc 103-104w Back
91 Testing
for the presence of depleted uranium in UK veterans of the Gulf
Conflict: the current position,
op cit, para 9 Back
92 ibid,
para 14; Q 147 Back
93 ibid,
para 14 Back
94 ibid,
para 15 Back
95 Q
41 Back
96 Ev
pp 46 and 87 Back
97 Q
45 Back
98 Ev
p 87 Back
99 HC
Deb., 15 February 2000, cc 482-483w Back
100 Ev
p 87 Back
101 QQ
177-181 Back
102 HC
Deb., 14 March 2000, c 104w Back
103 Royal
Society media release, 24 January 2000 Back
104 Eleventh
Report, Session 1994-95, op cit, para 38 Back
105 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War (Operation Granby),
MoD, October 1997, para 22 Back
106 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War, op cit,
paras 23-24 Back
107 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War, op cit,
para 32 Back
108 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War, op cit,
para 22 Back
109 Eleventh
Report, Session 1994-95, op cit, Q 699 Back
110 Eleventh
Report, Session 1994-95, op cit, para 43 Back
111 Q
63 Back
112 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War, op
cit, para 141 Back
113 Eleventh
Report, Session 1994-95, Ev p 47 Back
114 Eleventh
Report, Session 1994-95, op cit, para 53 Back
115 Minutes
of Evidence, 29 July 1997, HC 222-i, QQ 191, 201, 241, 244-250 Back
116 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War, op cit Back
117 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War, op cit,
para 63 Back
118 Background
to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces
during the Gulf War, op cit,
para 73 Back
119 Implementation
of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents
for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/91,
MoD, January 2000, paras 4-5 Back
120 Gulf
Veterans' Illnesses: A New Beginning, op cit, para
54 Back
121 ibid,
para 56 Back
122 Ev
p 37 Back
123 Implementation
of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents
for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/91, op cit,
paras 204-205 Back
124 Ev
p 81 Back
125 Implementation
of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents
for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/1991,
op cit, Accompanying Statement by the MoD, para 9 Back
126 Ev
p 98 Back
127 Implementation
of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents
for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/1991,
op cit, para 196 Back
128 Implementation
of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents
for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/1991,
op cit, Accompanying Statement by the MoD, para 9 Back
129 Implementation
of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents
for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/1991,
op cit, para 125 Back
130 Sixth
Report, Session 1996-97, op cit, para 26; HC Deb., 10 December
1996, c 122 Back
131 Implementation
of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents
for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/1991,
op cit, para 6 Back
132 Sixth
Report, Session 1996-97, op cit, para 30 Back
133 Ev
p 99 Back
134 Ev
p 99 Back
135 British
Chemical Warfare Defence during the Gulf Conflict (1990-1991),
MoD, December 1999, paras 10-12 Back
136 British
Chemical Warfare Defence during the Gulf Conflict (1990-1991),
op cit, paras 107-130; see also Background to the Use
of Medical Countermeasures to protect British Forces during the
Gulf War, op cit, para 18; Back
137 Gulf
Veterans' Illnesses: A New Beginning, op cit,
paras 57-58 Back
138 Minutes
of Evidence, 29 July 1997, HC 222-i, Q239 Back
139 Kuwaiti
Girls' School Case Narrative,
MoD and US DoD, March 1998 Back
140 A
review of the suggested exposure of UK Forces to chemical weapon
agents in Al Jubayl on 19 January 1991,
MoD, January 2000 Back
141 Dead
animals during the Gulf conflict: a review of the circumstances
in which UK Forces reported the presence of groups of dead animals
in theatre during Operation Granby in 1990/91,
MoD, April 1998 Back
142 Review
of events concerning 32 Field Hospital and the release of nerve
agent arising from US demolition of Iraqi munitions at the Khamisiyah
Depot in March 1991, MoD,
December 1999 Back
143 British
Chemical Warfare Defence during the Gulf Conflict (1990-91),
op cit Back
144 British
Chemical Warfare Defence during the Gulf Conflict, op cit,
paras 3-7 Back
145 ibid,
para 86 Back
146 ibid,
para 87 Back
147 Ev
p 82 Back
148 Kuwaiti
Girls' School Case Narrative,
op cit, p 49 Back
149 ibid,
page 50 Back
150 A
review of the suggested exposure of UK Forces to chemical weapon
agents in Al Jubayl on 19 January 1991,
op cit, paras 15-20 Back
151 ibid,
para 148 Back
152 ibid,
para 149 Back
153 Dead
animals during the Gulf conflict: a review of the circumstances
in which UK Forces reported the presence of groups of dead animals
in theatre during Operation Granby in 1990/91,
op cit Back
154 ibid,
paras 49-50 Back
155 Department
of Defense Information Paper, Medical Surveillance during Operations
Desert Shield/Desert Storm, November 1997, p 4 Back
156 Department
of Defense Information Paper, Medical Surveillance during Operations
Desert Shield/Desert Storm, op cit, pp 5 and 8 Back
157 Review
of events concerning 32 Field Hospital and the release of nerve
agent arising from US demolition of Iraqi munitions at the Khamisiyah
Depot in March 1991, op
cit Back
158 ibid,
para 1 Back
159 Review
of events concerning 32 Field Hospital and the release of nerve
agent arising from US demolition of Iraqi munitions at the Khamisiyah
Depot in March 1991, op
cit, paras 1-5, 50-52 Back
160 ibid,
para 82 Back
161 Gulf
Veterans' Illnesses: A New Beginning,
op cit, para 4 Back
