Global Policy Forum

Four soldiers have threatened to sue the Ministry of Defence after suffering symptoms similar to "Gulf war syndrome", their lawyer said today. The men believe the vaccinations they received before the war caused their symptoms, which include depression, eczema, breathing difficulties and stomach problems.

Solicitor Mark McGhee, representing the unidentified four, told the BBC: "I personally have dealt with well in excess of 400 Gulf war one veterans. The symptoms which these individuals are experiencing are identical to those of the individuals I represent in relation to the first Gulf war conflict." The Ministry of Defence said it does not know of the four soldiers' cases, but there is a screening programme to identify any symptoms early. Run independently from the MoD, King's College in London is screening soldiers on their return from the Gulf.

"Gulf war syndrome" is still a controversial subject without an agreed cause. It has been linked to stress, smoke from oil-burning wells, the depleted uranium used in some weapons and other causes. It has also been blamed on vaccinations given to troops before they headed to the Gulf for the campaign against Iraq in 1991. The 45,000 British forces serving in Iraq this time around were also given a range of vaccinations to protect against chemical and biological attack. The Ministry of Defence denies the syndrome exists, but a former British soldier won a landmark case only three weeks ago in which a tribunal ruled that a cocktail of drugs given to him in 1991 should be blamed for his illness.

Charles Plumridge, senior coordinator of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said the symptoms reported by the four soldiers were almost identical to those experienced by veterans of the first Gulf war. Mr Plumridge, who served in the first Gulf war, said: "They are more or less similar to the ones from 1991. The only exception is they have come on rather early." He said symptoms such as mood swings and depression were only reported about three or four months after soldiers returned from the Gulf in 1991. Of the four soldiers who may take legal action against the MoD, two did not even go to Iraq because they suffered such bad reactions to the multiple vaccinations, Mr Plumridge said.

One of the other two who were deployed to the Gulf had to be flown back to the UK after just 10 days because he fell ill and did not seem to get better, he added. He said the soldiers had five injections in one day, followed by one anthrax vaccination five days later and a second one a week later. "We have got to question the government's policy on the mixture of vaccinations," he added. "I know from my own personal experience that when we got five injections in one day, we were all ill." The case had yet to be put to the Ministry of Defence, Mr McGhee said. "We are clearly gathering the evidence. I am aware through the organisations that there may be other individuals. We will assess it and if we think there is a case we will go forward," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.