- A special presidential oversight board Wednesday said
that stress, not exposure to chemical warfare or smoke and dust from depleted
uranium ammunition explosions, is the most likely cause of some of the
illnesses suffered by thousands of Persian Gulf War veterans.
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- The Presidential Oversight Board for Gulf War Illnesses
found that a substantial number of Gulf War veterans are seriously ill
but it concluded that studies to date have not determined the causes of
the undiagnosed illnesses.
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- It said the veterans' symptoms are similar to those found
in the general population and to those of veterans returning from combat
duty in previous wars and from recent peacekeeping duties. And some of
those symptoms, the panel said, are similar to symptoms suffered by patients
with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and multiple chemical sensitivity.
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- The board, chaired by former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman,
discounted earlier studies showing that Gulf War veterans have more sickness
than other segments of the population, including veterans who did not go
to the Gulf War. It said further research is needed "to evaluate the
potential relationship between toxic exposures and symptoms of undiagnosed
Gulf War illnesses."
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- The report drew immediate and heated criticism from sick
veterans, their advocates, an aide to a Connecticut congressman and a scientist
who have followed the controversy closely in the years after initial fighting
ended in February 1991.
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- "The report, though well meaning, is yet one more
failed attempt to diagnose stress as the cause of sickness among [over
100,000] soldiers,'' said Bob Newman, an aide to U.S. Rep. Christopher
Shays, chairman of a committee that extensively investigated Gulf War illnesses.
"Sixteen [Congressional hearings] with dozens of scientific experts
from the private sector, clearly established that these sick veterans were
exposed to one of, or a combination of, 33 toxic agents known to be present
in the Gulf War theater."
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- A scientist, Dr. Robert Haley, who has found that a group
of Gulf War veterans has brain damage that he believes is due to exposure
to chemical warfare agents, said stress was discredited as a major cause
of the illnesses three years ago.
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- The Pentagon provided Haley, who works at the University
of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, with $3 million to conduct
a dozen studies of veterans, but the agency has since turned him down for
further work.
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- Retired U.S. Army Major Barry Kapplan, 42, of Union,
Ct., who said he is seriously ill from exposure to chemical warfare agents
and depleted uranium during the Gulf War, said he was "amazed"
by the oversight committee's "highly questionable" report.
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- "They are clouding the issue with double talk and[are]
using their own misinformation campaign against the sick veterans,'' said
Kapplan. How can stress be such a big factor, asked Kapplan, when thousands
of Gulf War veterans have already been given government disabilities for
physical, not mental, sicknesses, he asked?
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- Veterans have been studied for years at great waste of
taxpayer dollars, Kapplan said.
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- Kapplan was one of those diagnosed in a special Pentagon
medical program with a stress-related medical disorder. But medical records
show Army doctors approved him for retirement based on a host of physical
disabilities. Later the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed he
has a cerebral tumor and serious neurological problems.
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- Some advocates said they are not surprised by the oversight
board's findings because board members have repeatedly sided with Pentagon
officials.
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- "This is exactly the kind of whitewash we were expecting,"
said Patrick G. Eddington, executive director of the National Gulf War
Resource Center, a Washington-based advocacy group.
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- But Roger Kaplan, a spokesman for the board, said communication
between board members and the Pentagon's investigative staff has been nothing
but professional. He said the board recognizes that stress is not the only
factor in Gulf War illnesses, and that more scientific research is needed
to examine 28 remaining Gulf War hazardous exposures. Haley's studies,
he said, have been discounted through a close analysis by the board and
others.
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