Gulf War Illness inquiry opens
Lord Berwick has opened the independent public inquiry into Gulf War Illnesses.
He was asked to host the inquiry by Lord Morris, one of the founder members of the inter-Parliamentary Gulf War Group, after lobbying for a full public inquiry failed.
The inquiry will not use the term “Gulf War Syndrome” Lord Berwick said, because: “Nobody has as yet suggested that there is a single underlying cause for all the illnesses, nor are all the illnesses identical. So although they are sometimes referred to collectively as “The Gulf War Syndrome” this may be an inaccurate, or at least insufficient, description”
He also emphasised that the inquiry will not seek to apportion blame, saying is it not “suggested that whatever may have gone wrong in 1991 the Government of the day did other than act with the best of intentions. Our purpose at this stage is to find the facts, not to attribute blame.”
The inquiry will begin by hearing evidence from veterans, their dependants and their representatives, before moving on to medical opinion and “evidence and submissions of a more general nature.”
Lord Berwick said that he was hoping to hear from the Government and has written to both the Secretary of State for Defence and the Secretary of State for Health (Geoff Hoon and John Reid) requesting for their co-operation.
It is not yet known if the Ministers will appear at the inquiry.
Lord Berwick said that the inquiry is being funded by an “independent charitable trust, which wishes to remain anonymous.”
“It hardly needs saying that the Inquiry will be completely independent. There is no hidden agenda. Our terms of reference are to investigate the circumstances that have led to the ill health, and in some cases death, of over 6,000 British troops following deployment to the Gulf, and to report.”
It is believed that 6000 of those who served in the 1991 conflict suffer from some form of illness they believe is war related, with most of these in receipt of a war pension.
In addition to Lord Berwick, Dr Norman Jones, formerly Consulting Physician at St Thomas’ Hospital and Treasurer of The Royal College of Physicians, and Sir Michael Davies, formerly Clerk of the Parliaments, will sit on the inquiry.
Despite numerous requests from veterans groups, the Ministry of Defence has refused to hold a public inquiry into veterans’ accounts of post-Gulf War illness, although such an inquiry has not been categorically ruled out.
The Government instead has sought to focus attention on the large amounts of funding it has given for medical research into any possible conflict-related problems.
