IN NOVEMBER, 快猫短视频 reported that police were refusing to
confirm or deny reports that 40 deaths were under investigation as a result of
tests conducted at the former Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment in
Porton Down
(11 November 2000, p 11).
The Porton Down establishment was set up at the outbreak of the First World
War as a means of retaliating in kind and providing protective measures for
Britain鈥檚 armed forces. Work continued there between the world wars and for a
long time afterwards. Much of it depended on volunteers prepared to participate
in tests aimed at producing safe and effective protection for Britain鈥檚 armed
forces. Last year, however, MPs and journalists were up in arms following the
publication of Gassed, a book by journalist Rob Evans that claimed
Britain deliberately exposed up to 30,000 servicemen to poison gases in the
world鈥檚 longest-running programme of chemical warfare experiments. MPs and
scientists were up in arms. This prompted calls for an immediate study of the
health risks faced by survivors of such chemical weapons tests, which were
carried out up until 1989.
Lewis Moonie, the junior defence minister, who is also a doctor, tells me
that he has now persuaded his ministerial colleagues to adopt a new and sensible
approach to the case. The former Porton Down volunteers will be given an
opportunity for a thorough medical assessment if they have any concerns about
their health. Ministers will seek advice from the Medical Research Council on an
independent epidemiological study to help establish whether the volunteers are
suffering more illness than a matched group of Service personnel who did not
participate in trials at Porton Down. There will be a 鈥渕ultidisciplinary policy
focus鈥� to consider the health concerns of volunteers and to liaise with other
government departments. Finally, ministers have agreed to make public any
information that may be of assistance to former volunteers.
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These are indeed of pivotal importance. I shall be most interested to see how
鈥減ublic鈥� that information is made.
PROMPTED by a constituent telling me of his concern at the growing numbers of
parrots illegally imported into Britain, I asked Dawn Primarolo, the Paymaster
General, for statistics on recent seizures of endangered species by Customs and
Excise. Customs are responsible for policing the import of endangered plant and
animal species and any products made from them. The aim is to ensure that
Britain adheres to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) and the rules of TRAFFIC International, the trade-monitoring programme
of the World Wide Fund for Nature and the World Conservation Union.
Primarolo said that the last period for which Customs have complete figures
for seizures of endangered species is 1 October 1999 to 30 September 2000.
During that period, customs seized 2720 live animals and birds, 559 plants, 1586
parts and derivatives of endangered species, 2810 capsules/pills, 58,483 grams
of medical preparations with derivatives of endangered species, and 343,845
grams of caviar (many fish from which it is taken are now on the restricted
lists). Clearly, it鈥檚 a start, but I still have some way to go to get an
accurate figure on the illegal import of parrots.