Iraq: Birth Defects
House of Lords
Written answers and statements, 2 November 2009
Baroness Tonge (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government what reports they have received regarding the incidence of congenital abnormalities in babies born since the offensive in Fallujah.
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Labour)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not have any information of its own on this although we are aware of reports which occasionally appear in the media on congenital abnormalities in babies born in or near Fallujah and of the periodic referral of this issue to the UN.
In Iraq more broadly, there are media estimates that cancers in northern Iraq increased five to tenfold following Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons during the Anfal campaign in 1988.