The Muse's Page

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CBS NEWS REPORTED (In part, as I only have so much space here): A government advisory panel on Tuesday said it could find no evidence of a "Gulf War Syndrome" afflicting U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq and Kuwait in the early 1990s, though it did affirm that combat veterans do suffer increased rates of many individual ailments. The conclusion was a blow to veterans who maintain that exposures to pesticides, weapons residues, or other chemicals caused a set of symptoms unique to their service in Operation Desert Storm. The symptoms included fatigue, memory loss, severe headaches, and respiratory and skin ailments, which interfered with normal daily activities. Those symptoms and others have penetrated the American lexicon as "Gulf War Syndrome." But experts convened by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) said that their review of 850 studies shows it doesn't exist. While studies show that Gulf War veterans are at higher risk than nondeployed soldiers for a variety of illnesses, "the results of that research indicate that ... there is not a unique symptom complex (or syndrome) in deployed Gulf War veterans," the report stated.
Congress and the Veterans Administration rely in part on IOM to determine compensation levels for various illnesses. The VA has resisted calls to classify Gulf War symptoms as a service-connected syndrome. Tuesday's conclusions appear to make it less likely that soldiers will be able to prove to the government's satisfaction that their symptoms are a result of service in Iraq and therefore deserving of full compensation. "It makes it much harder to make that case," Shannon Middleton, assistant director of health policy at the American Legion, tells WebMD. The Pentagon began ordering soldiers to undergo health evaluations before deployment in the 1990s after complaints about a Gulf War syndrome first surfaced. But earlier studies usually lacked control groups or measures of soldiers' health before the war — factors researchers consider vital to understanding the cause of disease. The report did validate the higher rates of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and substance abuse often seen in combat veterans and those with prolonged service in battle theatres. ("theatres"...Enjoy the show?)

Still, the results angered some Gulf War activists. (You think?) Joyce Riley, spokeswoman for the American Gulf War Veterans Association, called the report "one more blow" for soldiers returned from the war. That group and others maintain that as many as 150,000 Gulf War veterans suffer from disabling symptoms unique to their service in Iraq and Kuwait but that full compensation remains out of reach. Riley called the debate over a definition of Gulf War syndrome "meaningless." "Are they sick, or are they not sick," says Riley, a former Air Force captain who served in the Gulf War. Some studies have found increased rates of birth defects in children of soldiers, though results are inconsistent. Of defects that have been observed, urinary tract abnormalities are the most consistent, the report said. (I'm pretty certain what you can do with your "report"...Come hang out at my house, coward!)

GULF WAR SYNDROM DOES EXIST! I'D SHARE PHOTOS OF MY JARHEAD, BUT HE WON'T LET ME TAKE PICTURES TO POST. WHEN WILL THIS COUNTRY ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY?

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BEFORE YOU BURY YOUR HEAD,
TEST THE SAND!

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