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GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF FAILING ILL GULF WAR
VETERANS -- Claim Pentagon and VA officials
continue
to "minimize these illnesses at every
opportunity,
misleading Congress and the scientific
community."
For more about the Gulf War and the illnesses
associated with it, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=gulf+war&op=ph
We have two pieces of information. First,
a news story then a press release from the Ranking Member on the Senate
Committee on Veterans' Affairs (SCVA), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).
News story here...
http://www.reuters.
com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2
539617020070925?sp=true
Story below:
-------------------------
U.S. accused of failing ill 1991 Gulf War
veterans
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medical experts and U.S. senators accused the
Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department on Tuesday of failing to take
seriously illnesses suffered by U.S. 1991 Gulf War veterans and doing
too little to help them.
Expert witnesses called before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
testified that Gulf War illnesses are real, serious and widespread among
U.S. troops sent to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The issue has been
controversial for years.
The Institute of Medicine, which provides advice on medical issues to
U.S. policymakers, concluded in September 2006 that Gulf War veterans
reported far more symptoms of illness than their fellow troops who were
not deployed.
But its report said studies have failed to establish that these symptoms
constitute a medical syndrome unique to Gulf War veterans.
Some of the harshest criticism of the government came from members of an
advisory committee created by Congress in 1998 to advise the VA on Gulf
War illnesses.
This panel's chairman, James Binns, said 16 years after the war, 175,000
U.S. veterans -- one in four of those who served -- remain seriously
ill, with the sickest among them developing neurodegenerative diseases
and brain cancer.
Binns said Pentagon and VA officials continue to "minimize these
illnesses at every opportunity, misleading Congress and the scientific
community." He faulted a VA fact sheet given to some senators stating,
"Gulf War veterans suffer from a wide range of common illnesses, which
might be expected in any group of veterans their age."
"That," Binns testified, "is garbage."
Lea Steele, scientific director for the advisory panel, said veterans
with Gulf War illness typically experience some combination of severe
headaches, memory and concentration problems, persistent pain, fatigue,
gastrointestinal and respiratory problems and unusual skin lesions and
rashes.
CAUSES UNCLEAR
The causes remain contentious, with some of the possibilities often
cited including: low-dose exposure to chemical weapons, vaccines or
medications given by the military, pesticides or smoke from burning oil
wells.
Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina cited a consensus among
Veterans Affairs committee members that Gulf War illnesses are real.
Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray blasted the Pentagon's
"long and shameful history" of failing to help the ill veterans.
A Pentagon health official said 15 to 20 percent of U.S. troops deployed
to fight the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are coming home with
"ill-defined" medical symptoms that defy standard diagnosis, as was the
case with Gulf War vets.
"I don't want to say we're seeing Gulf War illness in these folks," the
Pentagon's Dr. Michael Kilpatrick said after the hearing, but added that
some symptoms are similar to those seen in the earlier Gulf War
veterans.
Binns said the U.S. government has spent more than $300 million on Gulf
War illness research.
"Much of the money was misspent on the false theory that these illnesses
were caused by psychological stress, part of a deliberate effort to
downplay these illnesses as the sort of thing that happens after every
war, rather than the result of toxic exposures," Binns said.
"Only two treatment studies have ever been conducted, with negligible
results. This is a tragic record of failure, and the time lost can never
be regained," Binns said.
Kilpatrick said the 1991 Gulf War veterans who report health problems
are definitely ill, but do not have a single type of health problem.
"There isn't any constellation of symptoms that's unique to Gulf War
veterans," he added.
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SCVA press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/
scva07/scva092507-1.htm
Press release below:
-------------------------
REPUBLICAN
PRESS RELEASE
September 25, 2007
BURR CALLS FOR MORE TREATMENT OF THOSE WITH
GULF WAR ILLNESS
Media contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093
(Washington, DC) U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), the top
Republican on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, today said he
will continue his efforts to ensure that veterans with illnesses
associated with service in the Gulf War receive the best medical care
available.
"Nearly 16 years after the end of hostilities in the first Gulf War,
questions about the health status of those who served in that conflict
remain," Burr said. "Evidence shows that many of them suffer from
fatigue, memory loss, joint pain, and skin rashes at higher rates than
their fellow soldiers who were not deployed to the Gulf War. We still
don't know why these people who shared a common experience of service in
the Gulf War are suffering from these medical problems. Over the past
fifteen years, the U.S. has spent well over $300 million on research and
yet we still don't have the answers," Burr stated.
"While we may not know the cause of these diseases, we do know the
symptoms our veterans face are real. Our research efforts should
continue to focus on treatment for our Gulf War veterans. Our veterans
deserve to know the cause of these illnesses and they deserve the best
care available to manage symptoms," Burr added.
Dr. Meryl Nass, an internal medicine physician from Maine, testified
that at the time of the 1991 war, American combat servicemembers could
have been exposed to depleted uranium, pesticides, smoke from oil well
fires, as well as nerve agents from the destruction of Iraqi weapons.
The National Institute of Medicine reviewed 850 studies and found that
there was no consistent pattern of symptoms among veterans of the first
Gulf War.
Lea Steele, an associate professor at Kansas State University who
studies veterans with medical complications from the Gulf War, told the
committee that some of the symptoms can be debilitating. "Veterans with
Gulf War Illness typically experience some combination of severe
headaches, memory and concentration problems, persistent pain throughout
the body, and profound fatigue," Steele said.
Active duty military personnel who have questions or concerns about
their health or service in the Persian Gulf region are advised to
contact their commanding officer or call the Department of Defense Gulf
War Veterans Hotline (1-800-497-6261).
Veterans seeking disability compensation for illnesses incurred in or
aggravated by military service should contact a Veterans Benefits
Counselor at the nearest VA regional office or health care facility or
call the VA Gulf War Information Helpline at 1-800-PGW-VETS
(1-800-749-8387).
Links:
* Department of Defense - Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War
Illness -
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/vet_help/help.jsp
* National Institute of Medicine - Gulf War and Health:
http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3793/24597/36955.aspx
* Veterans Benefits Administration:
http://www.vba.va.gov/ro/west/phenx/gulf.htm
* VA Federally Sponsored Research on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses - 2006
Annual Report to Congress
http://www.research.va.gov/resources/pubs/GulfWarRpt06.cfm
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Larry Scott --
