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Malawi

John Barrett: Asked the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had with the Government of Malawi regarding it's decision to sell 50,000 tonnes of stored maize; and if she will make a statement. [100919]

Clare Short: The Malawi Government has imported approximately 250,000 tonnes of the national staple grain, maize, for sale to the public with a 50 per cent. subsidy. Substantial imports by private traders from surplus areas in Southern Tanzania and Northern Mozambique are making available maize at prices even

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lower than the Government subsidised price. High levels of maize in the national grain reserves could seriously jeopardise the maize market following the expected harvest commencing in April.

My Department's officials in Lilongwe have met with the Government of Malawi, other donors and civil society organisations, and have endorsed the decision to reduce maize stocks. This will limit potential market distortion and reduce the heavy fiscal burden associated with the initial purchases of maize and the subsidy. Maize is being offered at the subsidised price to NGOs for their humanitarian programmes and 50,000 tonnes has been offered to private traders for local sales, to supplement their own imports. The Government of Malawi will increase their Strategic Grain Reserve from 60,000 to 100,000 tonnes. Donor-supported humanitarian programmes continue to provide free grain to more than 25 per cent. of the population.

John Barrett: Asked the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the projected levels of food production in Malawi. [100974]

Clare Short: The crop estimates issued by the Malawi Ministry of Agriculture at the end of January 2003 suggest a national maize crop of 2.05 million tonnes if the present good rains continue. The harvest will begin in April. Together with additional food from other crops, national self-sufficiency may be achieved this year. Substantial maize stocks in the strategic grain reserve and continuing humanitarian feeding programmes will mitigate localised areas of deficit.

Burkina Faso

John Barrett: Asked the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance her Department has given to the Government of Burkina Faso since the outbreak of meningitis. [100917]

Clare Short: We contribute to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is working with national governments to tackle meningitis and other epidemics. In response to the latest meningitis outbreak WHO has provided 500,000 doses of vaccine to Burkina Faso with a further 1 million doses ready to be shipped. Our general assistance to Burkina Faso is provided through multilateral agencies, in particular the EU. Our share of the substantial EU programme is just over £5 million.

TREASURY

Cigarette Smuggling

Chris Grayling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Customs and Excise officers are dedicated to tackling cigarette smuggling; and how many are based at each port of entry. [100825]

John Healey: For the number of law enforcement staff within Customs and Excise I refer the hon. Member to the answer the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury gave my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Mr. Lazarowicz) on 10 April 2002, Official Report, columns 246W–47W.

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Customs' law enforcement staff are deployed on the basis of risk assessment and intelligence, and regularly move between ports of entry and inland locations. No details can be given of the number of officers deployed in individual locations at particular times; Exemption 4 (Law enforcement and legal proceedings) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information applies.

DEFENCE

Service Personnel (Vaccination)

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the vaccines given to troops preparing to go to the Gulf, stating in each case (a) whether they have been approved by the Medicines Control Agency and (b) whether they are administered voluntarily or compulsorily; and if he will make a statement. [92142]

Mr. Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish details of the current precautionary inoculation programme for troops likely to serve in the Gulf. [93200]

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the course of inoculations that are being given to HM Forces personnel being deployed for possible operations against Iraq; and which drugs are administered and over what period of time. [93646]

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what vaccines are being administered to UK troops deploying to the Gulf in addition to anthrax vaccine. [95926]

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what inoculations are being offered to members of the British armed forces for the purposes of health protection prior to potential conflict in the Gulf. [99677]

Dr. Moonie [holding answer January 2003]: All vaccines offered to Service personnel are administered on a voluntary basis. The standard Service public health vaccinations or boosters listed below, all of which are licensed by the Medicines Control Agency, are offered to personnel deploying to the Gulf region if they are not already up-to-date with these vaccinations:

Hepatitis A/Typhoid

Meningococcal Meningitis C

Poliomyelitis

Tetanus/Diphtheria

Tuberculosis

Yellow Fever

Rubella (Female/healthcare personnel only)

In addition, all troops deploying on operations to the Gulf are being offered immunisation against anthrax. Immunisation against Hepatitis B is offered to certain groups at special occupational risk if they are not already up-to-date with this vaccination. Immunisation against Rabies is also offered to personnel deploying to the Gulf region who work with animals. These vaccinations are also licensed by the Medicines Control Agency.

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Vaccination against smallpox is being offered to a cohort of specialist NBC personnel and certain medical personnel, some of whom are deploying to the Gulf region. The smallpox vaccine is not currently licensed, but has been tested for potency and is being used on the basis of expert medical advice.

All Service personnel deploying to the Gulf region are also being provided with antimalarial tablets which should be started a week before deployment, and continue until 28 days after leaving a malarial area.

Biological and Chemical Weapons

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the relative success rates using (a) in-vitro non-animal techniques and (b) animal experiments to develop antidotes to biological and chemical weapons in the last five years. [100403]

Dr. Moonie: The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) at Porton Down has the remit to provide the United Kingdom and its Armed Forces with safe and effective protection in the event of Chemical or Biological weapons being used against them. Wherever possible, scientists at Dstl Porton Down are developing in-vitro models to replace and reduce the numbers of animals involved. However, to undertake this research effectively necessitates some research involving the use of animals.

It is not possible to determine the relative success rates of the use of in-vitro techniques and animal experiments. However, both elements make an invaluable contribution to the medical countermeasures programme.

In-vitro non-animal techniques are routinely used to screen candidate therapeutic drugs and treatments. These include the use of donated human skin to screen prospective barrier cream formulations, and the use of cell and tissue cultures to evaluate new antibiotics and improved anti-convulsant drugs.

Over the last five years the research programme at Dstl Porton Down to develop new generation vaccines for plague and anthrax has continued to progress well: the candidate plague vaccine is already in clinical trials; and the candidate anthrax vaccine is expected to enter clinical trials later this year. Additionally, the results of several years' research has lead to the proposal for a new nerve agent pre-treatment and a change in one of the drugs contained in the triple therapy Combopen. These drugs are currently undergoing studies to satisfy the regulatory and licensing requirements. The Ministry of Defence is committed to these improvements in the provision of treatment for nerve agent poisoning as they offer not only an enhancement in survivability but also a significant decrease in incapacitation following poisoning by nerve agents.

Depleted Uranium

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what studies have been undertaken of the effects of the use of depleted uranium during the Gulf War of 1991 on (a) coalition forces, (b) Iraqi forces and (c) Iraqi civilians. [100277]

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Dr. Moonie [holding answer 3 March 2003]: Many independent reports have been produced that consider the battlefield effects of using depleted uranium (DU) munitions, but none has found widespread DU contamination sufficient to impact the health of the general population or deployed personnel. These include work by the US RAND Corporation, the US Institute of Medicine, the Royal Society, the European Commission, the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The two Royal Society reports on ''The Health Hazards of Depleted Uranium Munitions'' (2001, 2002) support the Ministry of Defence's view that risks to the health of soldiers on the battlefield are minimal except for a small number of extreme cases.

Under the auspices of the independent Depleted Uranium Oversight Board, a test for DU in urine is currently being developed and we aim to make it available to all those who wish to be tested later this year. In parallel with this, we will also carry out an epidemiological study which will examine the link between exposure to DU and health.

No UK troops who served in the Gulf experienced the highest level of DU. However, thirty-three US soldiers were highly exposed when their vehicles were accidentally hit by DU rounds. Consequently, seventeen of them have retained embedded DU shrapnel for the last twelve years. The health of this group is closely monitored by the US Government and so far they do not show signs of health problems attributable to DU.

At the end of August 2001, the World Health Organisation (WHO) despatched a technical team to Baghdad to establish specific projects to explore areas of health concern in Iraq. These discussions, carried out in an atmosphere of full collaboration and co-operation with the Iraqis, culminated in four project proposals covering health surveillance of cancers, health surveillance of congenital malformations and renal diseases, studies to explore health effects of environmental risk factors (including DU) and an implementation plan for cancer control. The WHO sent details of the proposals to the Iraq Ministry of Health in the last quarter of 2001, but a response is still awaited.

Meanwhile, WHO has contracted the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm to complete the first phase of extensive epidemiological studies to investigate environmental factors that may lead to increased incidences of various cancers. The first meeting to schedule and detail the studies has been called for mid-March. The Iraqis will participate in the studies, in full collaboration with these institutes.

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