Gulf Veterans

1990/1991 Gulf Veterans - Mortality Statistics

The latest UK Gulf Veterans Mortality Data, produced by Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA), Ministry of Defence, was released on the 31st March 2011 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

This Statistical Notice provides summary statistics on the causes of deaths that occurred among the UK veterans of the 1990/91 Gulf Conflict. The mortality rates of 53,409 UK Gulf veterans were analysed alongside those of a comparison group, the Era cohort. The Era comparison group consists of 53,143 UK Armed Forces personnel of similar age, gender, Service, regular/reservist status and rank who were in Service on 1 January 1991 but did not deploy to the Gulf. The findings include those who died while in Service and those who died after they had left the Services.

The key findings in the latest release (1 April 1991 - 31 December 2010) are:

• There were no statistically significant differences in the total number of deaths between the Gulf veterans and the Era comparison group, or for any of the main groups of cause of death.
• There were 1,193 deaths among Gulf veterans up to the 31 December 2010 and 1,252 deaths in the Era comparison group, representing increases of 98 and 107 respectively since the last release in March 2009, resulting in an estimate of 1,216 deaths in the age-adjusted Era comparison group.

The 1,193 deaths among Gulf veterans compare with approximately 1,998 deaths which would have been expected in a similar sized cohort taken from the general population of the UK with the same age and gender profile. This reflects the strong emphasis on fitness when recruiting and retaining Service personnel.

Date: 13 Aug 10

A New Beginning

Since returning from the Gulf War in 1991, some British veterans have become ill. Many believe that this ill-health is unusual and directly related to their participation in Operation GRANBY. This is a view also held in some other Coalition countries, particularly the USA, where Gulf veterans have fallen ill since the conflict. However, there is still no medical or scientific consensus on this subject and, after six years, many veterans now feel frustrated at the lack of progress and abandoned to their plight.

The new Government believes we have a debt of honour to those who have served their country in the Armed Forces and has been determined from the outset that a fresh start will be made in dealing with this difficult and complex issue. Accordingly one of the first actions of this Government on taking office was to announce a package of measures aimed at addressing Gulf veterans' health concerns.

Now, having consulted widely and considered the various issues carefully, this statement sets out how the Government proposes to deal with this matter in the future.

Date: 5 May 06

British Chemical Warfare Defence

This paper (published in December 1999) provides background information about the defensive system that was put in place to protect UK troops from the threat of chemical warfare agents, although some elements such as the respirator apply equally to biological warfare agents. This paper pulls together a variety of material about CW defence, some of it previously published. It is the first time MOD has provided a comprehensive picture of the arrangements in the Gulf during 1990/91.

Date: 5 May 06

Gulf Research: Literature Review

The Ministry of Defence has funded, through the MRC, an independent review of world-wide published research relating to Gulf veterans' illnesses.  The review was carried out by a team from the University of Bristol and the University of Wales, led by Professor Glyn Lewis.

The findings of the review are set out in a series of papers.  In 2003, a paper on psychiatric disorder was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.  In 2006, a paper on multi-symptom conditions was published in Psychological Medicine and a paper on pain was published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders.  Three other reports (on reproductive health, hospitalisation and mortality) are available via the links on this page.

Date: 2 Jan 07

Immplementation of Immunisation Programme

MOD has sought, by interviewing 200 key personnel who served in the Gulf conflict (Operation GRANBY) and by searching for relevant documentation, to reconstruct so far as possible the implementation of the anti-Biological warfare (anti-BW) immunisation programme for UK forces during the 1990/91 Gulf conflict. With a few exceptions only tentative conclusions can be offered on the specific detail in any particular unit. More robust conclusions can be drawn about more general issues.

Date: 5 May 06

Khamisiyah 2005 Assessment

On 10 March 1991, US troops carried out deliberate demolition of Iraqi rockets at Khamisiyah ammunition storage facility in Southern Iraq.  It was subsequently discovered that these rockets contained the nerve agents sarin and cyclosarin, and that some nerve agent would have been released by the demolitions.  It has been suggested that the health of those in the region at the time may have been adversely affected by exposure to the nerve agent released.  

The purpose of this paper is to provide the MOD’s assessment of the 2002 US Department of Defense (DoD) modelling of the events at Khamisiyah.

It discusses changes to the modelling of the plume, since the initial US model in 1997, and the possible level of exposure, before examining the potential implications for the health effects of UK veterans.

While the DoD 2002 paper contains no new evidence specific to UK troops, it does provide a greater understanding of the events at Khamisiyah.

Date: 5 May 06

Lessons Identified

The purpose of this paper is to describe the analysis of health-related and personnel issues carried out since the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict and identify the lessons that can be learned from this work. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has published a considerable amount of analysis following the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict.

However, much of this work was undertaken relatively soon after the Conflict and before the emergence of suggestions that some veterans were experiencing postdeployment illnesses. The passage of time allows now for a more reflective analysis.

Date: 5 May 06

Letter to Gulf Veterans RE: GWS Umbrella Term

Letter sent to Gulf veterans who have a war pension or gratuity and have sought to have Gulf War Syndrome recognised for pension purposes.

Date: 19 Jun 07

Use of Medical Countermeasures to Protect Armed Forces During the Gulf War

During the Gulf War a range of medical countermeasures were used, or available to be used, to protect British troops against Iraqi chemical and biological weapons (CBW). This paper sets out the background to these matters, including an explanation of the threat assessment at the time, the relevant scientific research upon which decisions were based, and more details of the specific medical countermeasures which were used or put in place.

Date: 5 May 06

Medical Records in the Gulf

The aim of this publication is to provide a simple explanation of the relevant parts of the Service medical documentation system, to describe how it was used during Gulf deployment of 1990 -1991, to explain the generic reasons why a record may no longer exist and to provide points of contact which veterans can use in seeking to obtain their medical records.

It should be clearly understood that this paper refers to Service medical records. The medical records of dependants belong to the National Health Service and the MOD has no right of access to them except on the basis of MOD employed doctors (Service or civilian) providing medical services.

Date: 5 May 06

Publications Relevant to Gulf Veterans' Illnesses

The following is a list of published material relevant to the concerns that some veterans of the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict have about their health. All of the material listed is publicly available. Gulf veterans’ illnesses is a topic which touches many areas and the amount of material potentially available is enormous. For this reason, the focus here is on work that has been sponsored by or carried out with the support of the Government. Papers covering medical & scientific research are well referenced and commercially available on the internet.

Date: 5 May 06

UK Forces Chemical Warfare Agent Alerts

On 14 July 1997, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) published a policy statement setting out its strategy for addressing the health concerns that have been expressed by veterans of the 1990/1991 Gulf conflict. As part of this strategy, the Government pledged to review incidents during Operation GRANBY where veterans have suggested that they were exposed to Iraqi chemical or biological warfare (CBW) agents.

The first of these reviews concerned a tank of liquid found at the Kuwaiti Girls' School in Kuwait City in August 1991, and a draft case narrative was published jointly by the MOD and the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses (OSAGWI) at the US Department of Defense (DoD) on 11 March 1998. Another paper published by the MOD on 6 April 1998 reviewed the circumstances in which UK forces reported groups of dead animals during the Gulf conflict.

Date: 5 May 06