Under fire: Moonie

MPs have demanded reassurances from ministers that troops going to Iraq will not become victims of Gulf war syndrome.

The Ministry of Defence was urged on Wednesday to ensure full protection for the soldiers who are now being deployed to the Gulf.

Several MPs lambasted the MoD for failing to keep records of what injections were being given to personnel, describing the problem as "lamentable".

The Westminster Hall debate organised by Liberal Democrat MP Paul Tyler came after the MoD mounted a High Court challenge to a landmark ruling recognising Gulf war syndrome for the first time.

"At a time when British troops are being prepared for a new war against Iraq, it is not only insensitive, but frankly scandalous that the MoD refuses to recognise the illnesses of Gulf war veterans," said Tyler.

He asked for an explicit reassurance that any service personnel who became ill as a result of vaccination would be treated and compensated.

Ministers were also criticised by Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, a member of the defence select committee, for failing to live up to commitments to give Gulf veterans proper recognition.

"Is it so much to ask that those destroyed lives and their families be treated properly?" he asked.

"The historic commitment of the government to tell the truth has been very sad. This is touching a very raw nerve as far as the minister and the MoD are concerned."

Dr Ian Gibson, the Labour chairman of the science select committee and a leading cancer specialist, called for research into the link between depleted uranium shells and cancer.

"I think if the events in Iraq proceed and DU is used there may be may effects and our troops need to know about that," he said.

"The minister does have a job here to do to convince many of us that lessons have been learned."

Conservative MP Andrew Murrison, a former Royal Navy surgeon who saw service in the Gulf and is on the reservists list for call-up, warned that military officials were doing "less than they ought" to take concerns of the rank-and-file seriously.

Though not convinced of Gulf war syndrome, he warned there was a danger that the mistakes of the last conflict against Saddam Hussein could be repeated.

"We do risk doing the same again because we are exposing people to the same risk as we did in 1991," said Murrison.

Defence minister Lewis Moonie aimed to ease concerns and asked MPs to "come and see me" if they wanted to express concerns.

"I have a passionate desire to get to the bottom of something like this," he said, adding it would be unthinkable for his department to push problems under the carpet.

Moonie said the department accepted that some Gulf veterans were sick and should be compensated.

"There is no denial of that. There may have been in the past - there is not now," he said.

There had been an improvement in medical records, he argued, and the chain of command were "in no doubt" of the importance of keeping files on what vaccines had been given and where troops had been deployed.

Moonie also admitted that anthrax vaccines being washed up on British beaches after falling from Navy ships was a "monumental embarrassment".