A POOLE company has been accused of helping Saddam Hussein create Iraq's deadly chemical weapons shortly before the first Gulf War.

A group of American soldiers suffering the symptoms of so-called Gulf War Syndrome are seeking damages from Poole's British Drug House (BDH).

It is claimed the firm, along with a number of other UK banks and companies, supplied items which helped Iraq build its chemical weapons arsenal.

Although the weapons were not used directly against allied troops during the 1991 conflict, the servicemen claim they suffered injuries and "economic loss" after being exposed to the chemicals when coalition forces blew up Iraqi ammunition dumps.

Lawyers working on behalf of 16 US servicemen have filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn, New York, but it is thought up to 100,000 servicemen and civilians may eventually join the lawsuit as a class action.

BDH was originally a London company before it moved to Poole in 1946.

During the 1960s it saw a huge expansion at its site in Mannings Heath.

The chemical distribution firm was bought by pharmaceutical giant Merck in 1973.

More than 2,500 nearby residents had to be evacuated in 1988 after a massive explosion rocked the BDH chemical plant and sent debris flying more than three miles away.

When asked about the US lawsuit, a spokeswoman for VWR International, part of the Merck group, said: "We have not been served with any documents and are therefore not in a position to comment on the matter."

Other UK businesses named in the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, are Lloyds TSB, Barclays and Natwest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group and Scottish engineering firm Weir Group.

It is claimed the companies had a duty to act responsibly when they sold chemicals to Iraq in the 1980s.