BRITISH troops could be exposed to the "chemical equivalent of friendly fire" if they are engaged in hostilities against Iraq, a Bolton MP has warned.

Bolton South East MP Brian Iddon and other MPs claimed in a debate in Westminster Hall that those deployed in or near the region could face unnecessary health risks because the Government had not learnt lessons from the 1991 Gulf War.

They also said there was a lack of compensation for British veterans and inadequate research into possible Gulf War syndrome, and said US authorities had adopted a "much more sympathetic approach".

Junior defence minister Lewis Moonie said no one denied some veterans were sick and insisted there was no attempt to "push it under the carpet".

Dr Iddon said: "While the Americans seem to have accepted that new illnesses have arisen as a result of that conflict, the MoD cannot share their views entirely. We are not spending enough in the UK on unearthing the truth."

Liberal Democrat MP Paul Tyler (Cornwall North) raised concerns about exposure of Gulf War troops to organophosphate pesticides (OPs), which can lead to acute poisoning.

Mr Tyler, a Royal British Legion Gulf War Group member, said in 1994 the Government insisted only 10 British service personnel had been involved with OPs used by the UK during the conflict.

But evidence had emerged to suggest some were exposed to "massive doses of OPs and other pesticides in vapour form". He cited research suggesting a link between these and symptoms of Gulf War illness.

But the Government was still insisting use of pesticides was essential to protect forces against insect-borne disease.

Mr Tyler said: "Many Gulf veterans who have developed serious illnesses since have given us evidence of administration of vaccines which was at best slap-happy and at worst irresponsible.

"The combination, in quick succession, of a cocktail of vaccines would seem to have been absurdly ill-considered and out of control in many units. The failure of the Ministry of Defence to even acknowledge the existence of specific Gulf War illness has been especially scandalous."

, reflecting a level of cynicism and lack of sensitivity at a time when the US authorities have been much more sympathetic."

In 1995 the US government accepted the need to compensate those suffering from Gulf War illness and Congress ordered compensation of about 60,000 dollars per veteran.

Mr Tyler said: "If British troops are deployed on our behalf, it would be truly scandalous if they are also exposed to unnecessary risk to their health by their own military planners in the MoD -- the chemical equivalent of friendly fire."