MPs misled on OPs in Gulf War

The Armed Forces Minister, Nicholas Soames MP has apologised to the House of Commons Defence Committee for inadvertently misleading parliament about the extent of OP use during the Gulf War. It is now evident that some of the symptoms experienced by hundreds of personnel who returned from the Gulf could have been caused by OP exposure.  
    At a sitting of the Committee on 26 February Mr Soames and officials from the Ministry of Defence outlined the circumstances in which incorrect information had been provided to Parliament for two years. Mr Soames made three points:  

• inaccurate advice was given to ministers;
• although there were indications in 1995, that OP pesticides had been used in the Gulf War, these were not properly assessed, nor followed up;
• when information was identified in June 1996 that OPs were used, it was not passed on to ministers until September 1996.

A Ministry of Defence official told the Committee, the main focus of investigation is at the Surgeon General's office.  
    MPs were concerned that junior officials would be made scapegoats in order to protect higher officials. This was strenuously denied by Mr Soames. (DB)  

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 35, March 1997, page 7]