The Times has today run a leading article on how “British army veterans who suffered the side-effects of Lariam must receive justice”.
The Times says “it is a bleak irony that a drug initially designed to protect military personnel in foreign climates has wreaked such damage on the lives of soldiers in the intervening years”. It adds that “debilitating psychological side-effects were suffered by an estimated 12 per cent of the 20,000 British troops given the drug in the years following its introduction in 1991”.
Referencing Hilary Meredith Solicitors’ legal action on behalf of 450 former service personnel seeking justice, The Times says the Ministry of Defence “recklessly continued to use Lariam long after its dangers were clear and the appears to have attempted to conceal its negligence”.
The Times adds that “even at this late stage, however, the government is attempting to evade its duty to provide victims of the Lariam scandal with compensation”.
In a strong conclusion to the editorial, The Times concludes that the “government appears to be wilfully dragging its feet” and “to prolong the suffering of Lariam’s unwilling victims is inexcusable, though sadly wholly in keeping with the government’s evasive actions to date”.