The Gulf War Syndrome

Experts Say Does Not Exist

How Long Must Vets Wait

It took our government countless studies and over 20 years to finally acknowledge that our Vietnam Veterans suffered serious medical ailments as a result of their exposure to the toxic defoliant known as Agent Orange.

Now, it’s our Gulf War Veterans Who Must Wait For Help.

Fifteen years after the Gulf War, the Veterans Administration just commissioned another study seeking to determine whether Gulf War veterans qualify for special disability benefits because of illnesses linked to their service.

And this panel of experts looking for evidence of a Gulf War Syndrome say they cannot find it, although troops deployed during the 1990-1991 Gulf War get sicker than most other veterans.

There is evidence that Gulf War veterans develop a rare, deadly, and paralyzing illness known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's Disease, the Institute of Medicine panel found in this latest review of many previous reviews on veterans' health.

And exposed to combat stress in an environment with abundant sources of potentially harmful chemicals, nearly 30 percent of Gulf War veterans have suffered some kind of illness.

"Gulf War veterans consistently report experiencing a wide range of symptoms, and this is the case for both American veterans and military personnel from Canada, Australia, and other countries who served in the Persian Gulf," said Lynn Goldman, a professor of occupational and environmental health at Johns Hopkins University.

"But because these symptoms vary greatly among individuals, they do not point to a syndrome unique to these veterans," added Goldman, who chaired this panel of medical experts recently hired by the government.

This new report also details the many sources of chemicals that could have harmed the health of our veterans.

"Most alarming are the smoke from oil-well fires that were set by Iraqis as they retreated at the end of the war and the potential exposures arising from the U.S. military bombing of a poison-gas munitions dump at a location called Khamisiyah," the report reads.

"Military personnel have also been reported to have had exposure to other fuels, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and pathogens. Most recently, the Department of Defense published a report documenting a large amount of pesticide use in the war theater."

But there is no way to determine how much exposure any individual serviceman or woman had, these panelists say.

There is also evidence that Gulf veterans have a higher risk of anxiety disorders, depression, and substance-abuse problems, says the panel.

This latest government study reviewed 850 studies that have already been done about Gulf War veterans.

"We do recommend more follow-up studies to monitor rates of these diseases in Gulf War veterans," Goldman concluded.

I wonder how long it will take before needed help is provided to our Gulf War veterans.  Vietnam Vets had to wait over 20 years.  The Gulf War ended 15 years ago.  The studies continue.

And I truly wonder why our veterans must always wait so long.