Legion urges public inquiry into Gulf War vaccinations

On the eve of Armistice Day, the Royal British Legion has repeated its calls for a public inquiry into the government’s administration of vaccines to troops deployed in the first Gulf War.

Lord Morris of Manchester, a political advisor to the Legion in the House of Lords, will lead a short debate in the House of Lords today on the causes and impact of so-called Gulf War syndrome.

Director of Welfare at The Royal British Legion, Col Terry English, said: “What we have found in the limited answers from the government is worrying enough for us to have renewed our call for an urgent public inquiry.

“This issue needs to be brought out into the open."

The Legion is taking the lead on behalf of the many Gulf War veterans who believe that illnesses are attributable to the "concentrated anti-biological weapons immunisation programme and/or the requirement to take pyridostigmine bromide (known as NAPS) tablets as an antidote to attacks on the nervous system".

The Legion claims that more than 5,000 Gulf veterans are ill or have died – "a great many from still undiagnosed illnesses".

Lord Morris of Manchester said: “It is an extremely serious matter that 13 years after the conflict so many of our troops, some now terminally ill, still have medically unexplained illnesses.

“It has been frankly admitted that medical record keeping was abysmal and that an unlicensed vaccine was widely used on our troops. The MoD has made it quite clear in reply to my Parliamentary Question that it doesn’t know which and how many vaccines were given to whom and when.

"The Royal British Legion has made a compelling case for a public inquiry that deserves a positive response,” he said.

Former RAF Flight Lieutenant John Nichol, head of the Gulf Veterans Branch of The Royal British Legion said that he felt "betrayed" by the MoD, adding that a public inquiry was necessary to "focus more public attention on the plight of veterans who deal with debilitating illness every day, purely because of their decision to serve their country”.

(gmcg)