U.S. Softens On Gulf War Syndrome
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  1. #1

    Cool U.S. Softens On Gulf War Syndrome

    U.S. Softens On Gulf War Syndrome
    United Press International
    November 5, 2004

    WASHINGTON - A leaked report from the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs indicates the government is backing away from its denial of Gulf War syndrome.

    For more than a decade, the British, U.S., Australian and Canadian governments have disputed soldiers were exposed to chemical agents such as sarin that created the syndrome, whose symptoms include chronic diarrhea, sweating, insomnia, muscle and stomach pain, fatigue, loss of memory and arthritis.

    The New Scientist quoted leaks of a report due to be released next week by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses that said, "A substantial proportion of Gulf War veterans are ill with multi-system conditions not explained by wartime stress or psychiatric illness."

    Some 30 percent of Gulf veterans suffer from various combinations of fatigue, muscle and joint pains, headache, abdominal and cognitive problems -- over and above non-Gulf veterans, the report says.

    The report said experiments on animals have shown exposure to doses of sarin too low to cause observable immediate effects causes delayed, long-term nerve and brain damage similar to that seen in veterans.

    Ellie


  2. #2
    November 12, 2004

    Panel: More Gulf War Illness research needed

    By Suzanne Gamboa
    Associated Press


    A federal panel that has spent two years reviewing studies of Gulf War illnesses recommends focusing future research on the effects of the toxic substances that veterans encountered during the 1991 conflict.
    That conclusion differs from the findings of a Clinton administration panel that determined that stress was the cause of the mysterious ailments afflicting thousands of Gulf War veterans.

    The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illness said scientists are closing in on a treatment but need more government help. The committee suggested spending $60 million over the next four years to monitor and research the health of veterans and their children.

    The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report Thursday, in advance of its expected release Friday by Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi.

    The review committee that Principi formed concluded that “the goal of understanding and treating Gulf War veterans’ illnesses is within reach” because of recent research breakthroughs.

    But federal research is falling short in large part because studies have not asked important questions and continue to focus on stress to explain the veterans’ problems.

    “Additional progress in addressing Gulf War veterans’ illnesses is not likely to come from a haphazard mix of studies,” the panel said.

    Department officials declined comment before the review was made public.

    Hundreds of thousands of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War have experienced undiagnosed illnesses they believe are linked to the war, according to Congress’ auditing arm. These ailments include chronic fatigue, loss of muscle control, diarrhea, migraines, dizziness, memory problems and loss of balance.

    Principi’s panel found that more recent studies suggest the veterans’ illnesses are neurological and apparently are linked to exposure to neurotoxins such as the nerve gas sarin, the anti-nerve gas drug pyridostigmine bromide and pesticides that affect the nervous system.

    “Research studies conducted since the war have consistently indicated that psychiatric illness, combat experience or other deployment-related stressors do not explain Gulf War veterans illnesses in the large majority of ill veterans,” the review committee said.

    Ross Perot, the Dallas businessman who has spent millions funding research on Gulf War illness, said the report should end the debate about whether studies should focus on the brain.

    “The focus now is on developing proper treatment and proper vaccines and having our troops and our population protected in the future,” Perot said.

    Perot helped pay for research conducted by Dr. Robert Haley, a University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center epidemiologist whose studies suggest a brain injury and genetics may help explain some veterans’ illnesses. Haley served on the panel.

    The Pentagon has estimated that about 100,000 soldiers were exposed to nerve gas when Iraqi weapons caches were destroyed, although congressional auditors have questioned the Defense Department’s estimates. The Pentagon also has said some soldiers may have been overexposed to pesticides.

    The committee said the VA should allocate $15 million in each of the next four years for a Gulf War illness research program.

    Principi had announced in 2002 that $20 million would be available for research this year. But during the summer, the panel found that little of that had been spent and some of what was went to studies investigating stress-related causes.

    Recent research “makes it a very reasonable possibility that this Gulf War illness is not attributable simply to stress of troops that were deployed,” said Paul Greengard, who won the Nobel Prize for work discovering the brain mechanisms involved in Parkinson’s disease, a nerve disorder.

    Greengard is the founder of Intracellular Therapies, which looks for treatments for central nervous system disorders. He said the company recently began investigating how nerve agents damage the brain.

    Greengard has done preliminary work funded by the Army that would apply the research methods he used to investigate Parkinson’s to study Gulf War illnesses.

    “I think any reasonable person can no longer exclude the possibility that our military personnel deployed in Gulf War I were exposed to toxic chemicals that have produced this very high incidence of illnesses,” Greengard said.



    http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/stor...925-502988.php

    Ellie


  3. #3
    hummmmmmmmmmmmmm does this sound like vietnam again geeze....


  4. #4
    If they know we complain about this problem, seems to me that it would be cheaper to PAY US part of the 60 MILLION dollars then spend it on a bunch of non-military, liberal people who make too much money already.

    Think of the monetary benefits that the vets would be getting if they didn't spend the $60M on this study.


  5. #5
    Lung Cancer Linked To Gulf War Fires
    Associated Press
    December 20, 2004

    WASHINGTON - Veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War exposed to pollution from oil well fires, exhausts and other sources face an increased risk of lung cancer, a government advisory group reported Monday.

    A committee of the Institute of Medicine concluded there isn't enough evidence to determine whether most of veterans' health problems are associated with such exposures.

    But it said occupational and environmental exposure to combustion products has been shown to increase danger of lung cancer.

    "Studies of people exposed to air pollution, vehicle exhaust and burning of coal and other heating and cooking fuels consistently show that such exposures are linked to increased risk for developing lung cancer," committee chair Lynn Goldman said in a statement.

    "This provides sufficient evidence that exposure to combustion products during the Gulf War could be associated with lung cancer for some veterans," said Goldman, a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.




    However, Goldman added, "it should be emphasized that smoking is the major culprit for lung cancer, accounting for 80 percent of all cases, according to the American Cancer Society."

    The committee said evidence is too weak to connect other cancers to exposure to combustion products. But it said there are indications that such exposure may be linked to asthma, cancers of the nose, mouth and throat, bladder and to low birth weight and premature births among women exposed while pregnant.

    A major problem, the report said, is that there is little information about the actual exposure of individual service members to these pollutants during the war.

    Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait ignited more than 600 oil well fires and the smoke and other combustion products sometimes remained low to the ground mixing with other products from vehicle exhaust, heaters and cooking.

    The Institute of Medicine is a branch of the National Academy of Science, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.

    Ellie


  6. #6
    Lung cancer may be linked to Gulf War fires
    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War exposed to pollution from oil well fires, exhausts and other sources may face an increased risk of lung cancer, a government advisory group reported Monday.

    A committee of the Institute of Medicine concluded there isn't enough evidence to determine whether most of veterans' health problems are associated with such exposures.

    But it said occupational and environmental exposure to combustion products has been shown to increase danger of lung cancer.

    "Studies of people exposed to air pollution, vehicle exhaust and burning of coal and other heating and cooking fuels consistently show that such exposures are linked to increased risk for developing lung cancer," committee chair Lynn Goldman said in a statement.

    "This provides sufficient evidence that exposure to combustion products during the Gulf War could be associated with lung cancer for some veterans," said Goldman, a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

    However, Goldman added, "it should be emphasized that smoking is the major culprit for lung cancer, accounting for 80 percent of all cases, according to the American Cancer Society."

    The committee said evidence is too weak to connect other cancers to exposure to combustion products. But it said there are indications that such exposure may be linked to asthma, cancers of the nose, mouth and throat, bladder and to low birth weight and premature births among women exposed while pregnant.

    A major problem, the report said, is that there is little information about the actual exposure of individual service members to these pollutants during the war.

    Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait ignited more than 600 oil well fires and the smoke and other combustion products sometimes remained low to the ground mixing with other products from vehicle exhaust, heaters and cooking.

    The Institute of Medicine is a branch of the National Academy of Science, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.


    Ellie


  7. #7
    January 10, 2005

    Researchers link cancer, combustible fuels
    Finding could help Gulf War veterans

    By Deborah Funk
    Times staff writer


    A scientific panel examining health effects of toxins to which veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War may have been exposed say there is a link between some cancers and combustible fuels, such as burning oil wells, cooking stoves, diesel-fueled heaters and vehicle exhaust.
    But the strength of the link varies among the types of cancer.

    The Institute of Medicine panel, which reviewed exposures and evidence of associated illnesses, also found a possible link between combustion products and asthma and preterm birth.

    The strongest evidence of a link, however, is between combustion products and lung cancer. In that case, the panel determined there was “sufficient evidence of an association” — one step short of determining cause.

    “Studies of people exposed to air pollution, vehicle exhaust and burning of coal or other heating and cooking fuels consistently show that such exposures are linked to an increased risk for developing lung cancer,” said panel chair Lynn Goldman. “This provides sufficient evidence that exposure to combustion products during the Gulf War could be associated with lung cancer in some veterans.”

    But Goldman, a professor at Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, cautioned that American Cancer Society figures show 80 percent of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking.

    The committee, which announced its findings Dec. 20, found “limited or suggestive evidence of an association” between combustion products and nasal, oral, laryngeal and bladder cancers, as well as low birth weight, preterm birth and asthma.

    The committee said information was “insufficient” to determine whether toxins such as unburned fuels, combustion products and the missile propellants hydrazine and nitric acid are linked to other cancers or reproductive, neurological, respiratory, heart, skin and other ailments.

    The Institute of Medicine committee based its findings on about 800 studies, most done in civilian, occupational settings over extended periods. Few of the studies focused specifically on 1991 Gulf War veterans.

    Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, said Gulf War veterans still have “an incomplete puzzle” of their illnesses and the causes.

    “We didn’t need the Institute of Medicine to tell us oil-well fire was bad for us,” Robinson said. “What we now need is the next step, which is identifying the prevalence rate in Gulf War veterans.”

    But data on what kinds of exposures and doses were not collected, making it difficult to determine the risk individual veterans face, the institute said.

    When data have not been collected, researchers need to look for statistical differences in the Gulf War veterans compared to other groups, much as they did in determining a higher prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in those veterans, Robinson said.

    “We need the same kind of look for cancer, birth defects and neurological diseases among Gulf War veterans,” he said.

    Using state cancer registries, the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to study the prevalence of cancer among 1991 Gulf War veterans and non-Gulf War veterans.

    Ellie


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