Report On Gulf War Illness Recommends More Study

POSTED: 10:30 am EST November 12, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Parting company with the findings of a Clinton
administration panel on Gulf War illnesses, a new study concludes
more must be learned about the effects of toxic substances on those
who fought there.

The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illness urges that up to
$60 million be spent over the next four years to monitor and research
the health of Gulf War veterans and their children.

In so doing, the panel distanced itself from the earlier body
attributed a series of mysterious ailments to stress under conditions
of warfare. Scientists are coming close to finding a treatment, the
panel said in its report, but it also said researchers need
substantially more government financial assistance.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report 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.

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.

SOURCE: The Associated Press /
http://tinyurl.com/6ee8g

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