Letter to the Chairman from the Rt Hon
Dr The Lord Gilbert on Microbiological Defence Trials
As you may know, in response to public concern
about the microbiological defence trials conducted off the South
Coast in the 1960s and 1970s, we decided last summer to initiate
an independent review of the trials. Professor Brian Spratt has
now completed his assessment. I thought you would wish to see
the attached copy of his report, which I am arranging to have
placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The MoD welcomes the outcome of Professor Spratt's
review, in particular that the trials were unlikely to have had
health consequences for the vast majority of peope living in the
areas involved. The review also concludes that, if any infections
did occur, they would have affected only those individuals very
susceptible to infection, such as those with cystic fibrosis.
Such effects would have been infections of the chest and blood
which would have occurred within days of release of the bacteria.
I am sure that many of the residents of the areas involved will
be relieved to know that the bacteria involved are not known to
be associated with effects such as chronic ill health, miscarriages
or birth defects. I hope this review has gone a long way to address
people's concerns over these trials.
We now intend to initiate another independent
review into the earlier series of trials involving release of
zinc cadmium sulphide over the UK, to establish whether they could
have led to any adverse health effects. A great deal of work has
been done in the US on similar defence trials, also involving
zinc cadmium sulphide, which was commonly used in many countries
as an air movement tracer in meteorology. The US studies have
concluded that there is no effect on health at the low concentrations
which would have been experienced during the trials. However,
we need to confirm whether the US conclusions are valid for the
conditions experienced during the UK trials, and we consider that
a further independent study is the best approach.
I hope this is helpful.
9 February 1999
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