http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11106300%255E31477,00.html
Toxic chemicals caused Gulf War Syndrome: report
AFP
18oct04
A US government-appointed panel has concluded that toxic chemical
exposure and not wartime stress caused neurological damage and illness
suffered by many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, The New York Times
reported Friday.
"The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses
concludes in its draft report that 'a substantial proportion of Gulf
War veterans are ill with multisymptom conditions not explained by
wartime stress or psychiatric illness'," the daily quoted a draft
report as saying.
The paper said the draft report cited a growing body of research on
effects of exposure to low levels of neurotoxins suggesting that many
veterans' symptoms have a neurological cause and that there is a
"probable link" to exposure to neurotoxins.
Among the potential sources cited were "sarin, a nerve gas, from an
Iraqi weapons depot blown up by American forces in 1991; a drug,
pyridostigmine bromide, given to troops to protect against nerve gas;
and pesticides used to protect soldiers in the region," the daily
reported.
Doctor Joyce Lashof, the chair of a presidential advisory group that
reported in 1996 that there was no causal link between toxic exposure
and the veterans' symptoms, told the newspaper Thursday that she had
not seen the new draft report.
But she said she was "open to changing her views if the findings were
based on solid new research and not advocacy by veterans' groups," the
Times reported.
"We certainly weren't sure that our report was the definitive answer,"
Lashof told the Times. "It was based on the best evidence available at
the time."
The chemicals cited in the new study belong to the group called
acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which can cause a range of symptoms
from pain to fatigue, diarrhea and cognitive impairment. Committee
members told the Times, which obtained a copy of the draft, that one
changes could be made in it but that basic scientific findings would
not change.
Some 22,000 US service men and women, out of the 700,000 who
participated in the first Gulf War, are still suffering from a host of
chronic and debilitating illnesses more than a decade after they
returned from the region, according to US officials.
"Gulf War Syndrome" is a term popularly applied to a vast range of
symptoms among veterans of the 1990-91 conflict in Iraq, from memory
loss, chronic fatigue and dizziness to swollen joints, depression and
lack of concentration.
About 100,000 US troops as well as thousands of British, Canadian and
French troops who took part in the operation against Baghdad to
liberate Kuwait have reported one or more of these problems.
To date, researchers had been unable to pinpoint the cause, or causes
of the condition and there is no approved therapy to treat it.
Speculation about the origin of the illnesses has focused on the
veterans' exposure to chemical and biological agents and pesticides
during the Gulf War.
Some 158,000 US troops received shots designed to protect them from
the biological warfare agents, anthrax and botulinum toxoid, for
example.
A combination of behavioral therapy and graded exercise has been shown
to help sufferers of other multisymptom chronic illnesses such as
chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, prompting the Veterans
Administration to explore its benefits for veterans with Gulf War
Syndrome.
AFP
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Vote for Bush. Why vote for the lesser of two evils?
No matter the candidates the superstition industry wins.
'Jesus' is a sock-puppet Christians utilize to add 'authority' to
whatever action they intend on taking. -Stoney
And Duty Imp and Rapscallion
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