British defense officials accused of stealing Gulf War
vets' organs
By ANTONY BARNETT
London Observer Service
August 27, 2000
LONDON - The British Ministry of Defense has been accused of being behind a program to
remove body parts from Gulf War veterans illegally and send them for secret research
experiments.
Lawyer Mark McGhee has launched legal action for the mother of one soldier, 24-year-old
Andrew Mullineux, amid allegations that his brain was removed after he died mysteriously
in 1993. It is alleged that the brain and other organs were sent to Porton Down, a
military research center in Wiltshire, England.
Margaret Mullineux only found out the fate of her son's organs last February in a letter
from a consultant pathologist at the Royal Military Hospital in Gosport. It informed her
that her son's brain was removed six years earlier after a post-mortem at Southampton
General Hospital.
The letter says parts of her son's brain were sent "to Porton Down because of the
potential risk of infection." Tissue samples of the skin, liver, kidney and spleen
were also sent.
"I was shattered," Mrs. Mullineux said. "I believed I had buried my son
whole and I now have found out his brain was removed without my permission and parts of
his body are now in jars at Porton Down. I remember at the time of his funeral, the
undertaker advising me to keep the coffin lid closed. At the time I didn't know why, but I
do now."
She added: "When he died Andrew was a civilian and died at a civilian hospital. I
want to know why a doctor at a military hospital was telling me six years later that his
brain was sent to Porton Down."
McGhee, who also represents more than 120 veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome, says
he has received inquiries from several families who believe the Ministry of Defense has
removed organs and tissues from their relatives without their knowledge.
"The (British) Human Tissues Act requires permission from next of kin before body
parts are removed, and it appears in the case of Andrew this hasn't happened," McGhee
said. "I believe there are other similar cases and we need to know what went on and
why these body tissues were removed and retained."
The veterans believe their illness stems from injections they were given to help protect
them against chemical gas attacks, or from radiation poisoning from depleted uranium
shells used in the war.
Larry Cammock, chairman of the British Gulf Veterans' Association, said: "We know of
a number of cases where body parts have been removed from veterans under mysterious
circumstances. What are the MoD trying to hide?"
"There is absolutely no truth in the suggestion we are taking body parts of Gulf War
veterans and sending them to Porton Down or anywhere else," a defense ministry
spokesman said.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. For more Observer news go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/ .)