To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the analysis by Professor Graham Rook and Dr. Alimuddin Zumla of University College, London, published in The Lancet, on the relationship between vaccines, exposure to insecticides and Gulf War illness. [6949]

Officials in my Department have held discussions with Professor Rook and Dr. Zumla concerning their hypothesis. Whenever my Department receives suggestions for additional research into subjects which could have a bearing on Gulf veterans' illnesses, our advice is always that the researcher(s) should submit a formal proposal to the Medical Research Council. I understand that Professor Rook and Dr. Zumla intend to submit a proposal for work to test their hypothesis in due course and we therefore await the MRC's advice.