Panel Refutes 'Gulf War Syndrome'

Institute Of Medicine Report Is Blow To Veterans Seeking Compensation

(WebMD)  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.

Thirty percent of Gulf War veterans complain of some form of "multisymptom" illness, often including fatigue, depression, anxiety, pain, or gastrointestinal problems. About half as many nondeployed veterans complain of those symptoms, according to the report.

Complaints of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, while more frequent in combat veterans, were not generally borne out by heart and lung function tests.

"They're not different from the symptoms deployed people have. They just report them at a higher rate," Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., who chaired the panel that issued the report, tells WebMD. "There is not particular constellation of symptoms that's unique to Gulf War vets," says Goldman, a professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

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.

Still, the results angered some Gulf War activists. 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.

The report also cited studies linking Gulf War service to a few diseases, including the rare but fatal nerve disorder ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Some troops also showed evidence of confusion, memory loss, and headaches, which is consistent with symptoms of exposure to sarin, a nerve agent used in chemical weapons that were destroyed by U.S. forces during the war, the findings stated.

Experts urged the department to perform follow-up studies on possible ALS, birth defects, some cancers, and a suspected higher rate of motor vehicle deaths in Gulf War veterans. "There definitely are some signals there that need to be tracked over time," Goldman says.

SOURCES: Gulf War and Health, Volume 4: Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War, Institute of Medicine, Sept. 12, 2006. Shannon Middleton, assistant director of health policy, American Legion. Lynn R. Goldman, professor, Johns Hopkins University; chair, IOM panel. Joyce Riley, spokeswoman, American Gulf War Veterans Association.

[juliehg-2009]

It's disheartening our government never really wants to do the right thing, simply because it's the right thing to do.

I believe those who served in the Gulf Wars have suffered. They have illnesses they never would have had had it not been for where they were deployed. Unfortunately, the same will probably hold true for those serving or who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. It already happened in VietNam. Remember Agent Orange? Remember the environment?

Bureaucrats have a history of looking the other way. "If we ignore it, then it really doesn't exist because it really didn't happen." This ignorance isn't just for the military. At least the bureaucrats haven't been stingy and haven't played favorites. Strong doses of this ignorance have also been wielded at the responders and recovery workers at the WTC site and to the victims of Katrina.

My daughter teaches Kindergarten, and her class (twenty-one 5 year olds) understands what it means to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. They have common sense -- go figure!

Maybe the bureaucrats should be sent back to Kindergarten to learn how to play nice and to not run with scissors!

[dtsingin]

I believe, that no matter what the problem is with a Veteran of any war, our government should take care of their every need. Every single person that has been in a war has been exposed to something that can cause major problems with their health. Granted, there are people that always try to abuse the system, but why deny our veterans health issues because a few may be abusing that system, there are more that truly need the help than do not. Thank You

[mjv2944]

What a way to treat those that served and sacrificed for this country. This sorry as-ed bureaucrats make me sick. Election is coming, give those worthless congressmen and senators the BOOT, they don't deserve to serve this great country.

[ndg1979]

Here it is folks - another attempt by our government of Nixon leftovers to deny proper care to those who volunteered to wear our nations uniform. Any entity in this country who says that members of the military do not become ill during battle should be disbanded and the individuals involved should be put on trial for crimes against humanity - mainly our veterans.

I thank every veteran for serving to keep me safe enough to write this letter and hope that someday our government will value you as much as I do.

[anthonymas1]

Some, if not most are sick I did 3 tours on CV-62 (carrier aircraft) and was on the flight deck %90 of the time I was there I breathed in so much pollution it was pathetic. there is a Gulf war link to Illnesses which I believe, because I was over there for 3years, 8 months out of my four years tour of duty, air pollution IE oil fumes, smoke, jet fuel, dust driven poison from the desert and God knows what else was lit up and blown through out the region during that time frame: the fact that there is no Gulf War Illness is ludicrous just ask the guys from GW1. Look at this video, eat jet fuel every day and tell me it won't hurt you-

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7841610633374209542&hl=en