Gulf War Illness Is Real, Debilitating: Study

Veterans hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. © MBK (Marjie) (flickr)

The Congressionally mandated Research Advisory Committee report, which was more than four years in the making, states that "scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War Illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans."

The report's conclusions are considered a major victory for many Gulf War veterans, who have regularly been denied treatment or disability compensation because the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) -- under both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush -- had denied such a condition exists.

"The science establishes that Gulf War Illness is real and it affects over 175,000 veterans, and that it was caused by toxic exposures," said Committee Chairman James Binns, a former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense. The report says that the most likely causes of the Illness were pesticides released into the environment when they were blown up in the U.S. invasion and pills given to protect troops against nerve gas.

Symptoms of Gulf War Illness include problems with memory and concentration, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue, and widespread pain, and may also include chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms, and skin rashes.

Fewer than 4,000 veterans have received compensation for Gulf War Illness, and as a result the VA and Department of Defense have put almost no effort into designing treatments.

"We're almost eighteen years from the start of the Gulf War in 1991 and we are still talking about what might have happened in 1991 that's making veterans sick."
- Dan Fahey, Gulf War Navy Veteran"There is no effective treatment today," conceded Binns, "but we have a good research program that has been initiated by the Department of Defense to identify treatment possibilities and do pilot studies of these treatments."

"So there already exists a good program," he said. "It just needs to be adequately funded."

The report downplays the impact of depleted uranium on Gulf War veterans. Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense told OneWorld the panel only came to that conclusion because VA officials have blocked research into the radioactive metal, which is used extensively in armor and weapon casings due to its extremely dense makeup.

For example, Sullivan said, the VA has instructed the National Academy of Sciences not to recognize studies on the health effects of depleted uranium based on animal testing -- even though such studies represent most of the research on the controversial material.

The World Health Organization says exposure to depleted uranium may cause damage to the liver or the central nervous system, but notes that it is difficult to draw firm conclusions because few studies have been done.

"It was the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs who blocked research on depleted uranium for years and years," Sullivan said. "So now it may be several more years before we have definitive answers on depleted uranium."

Those delays are trying the patience of Gulf War veterans.

"We're almost eighteen years from the start of the Gulf War in 1991 and we are still talking about what might have happened in 1991 that's making veterans sick," said Gulf War Navy Veteran Dan Fahey, who spent many years researching Gulf War Illness for the veterans organization Swords to Plowshares. "The reason that we're talking about this still at this point is that for years the Pentagon lied and manipulated information about what people were exposed to. It's quite maddening."

Fahey sees historical parallels between the U.S. government's treatment of Gulf War veterans and their counterparts of years past.

"This is basically the same thing that happened to veterans exposed to radiation from atomic testing and Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange," he said. "The debate went on for years. Who was exposed? How much were they exposed to? What are the possible health effects? And finally what Congress did -- both with atomic testing and Agent Orange -- is that they ordered the VA to give veterans the benefit of the doubt and give them the health care and benefits they earned. And, yet, with Gulf War veterans we're still at the earlier part of that debate."

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