What does a war injury look like? In the case of Iraq, we tend to picture veterans bravely getting on with their lives with the help of steel legs or computerized limbs. Trauma injuries are certainly the most visible of health problems – the ones that grab our attention. A campaign ad for congressman Tom Udall featured an Iraq war veteran who had survived a shot to his head. Speaking through the computer that now substitutes for his voice, Sergeant Erik Schei extols the top-notch care that saved his life.
As politicians argue about healthcare for veterans, it is generally people like Sgt Schei that they have in mind, men and women torn apart by a bullet or bomb. And of course, these Iraq war veterans must receive the best care available for such complex and catastrophic injuries.
Unfortunately, the dangers of modern war extend far beyond weapons. As Iraqis know only too well, areas of Iraq today are among the most polluted on the planet – so toxic that merely to live, eat and sleep (never mind to fight) in these zones is to risk death. Thousands of soldiers coming home from the war may have been exposed to chemicals that are known to cause cancers and neurological problems. What’s most tragic is that the veterans themselves do not always realize that they are in danger from chemical poisoning. Right now, there is no clear way for Iraq war veterans to find out what they’ve been exposed to and where to get help.
In October, the Military Times reported on the open-air pits on US bases in Iraq, where troops incinerate tons of waste. Because of such pits, tens of thousands of soldiers may be breathing air contaminated with burning Freon, jet fuel and other carcinogens. According to reports, soldiers are coughing up blood or the black goop that has been nicknamed “plume crud“.
In other cases, soldiers may have been exposed to poisons spread during efforts to restore Iraq’s infrastructure. In 2003, for instance, members of the Indiana national guard were put in charge of protecting a water-treatment plant. They were told not to worry about the bright orange dust lying in piles around the plant, swirling in the air and gathering in the folds of their uniforms. In fact, Indiana soldiers spent weeks or months in a wasteland contaminated with sodium dichromate. The chemical, made famous after its role as the villain in the movie Erin Brockovich, is used to peel corrosion off of water pipes. It is a carcinogen that attacks the lungs and sinuses.
Today, a decade and a half after the first Gulf war, we know that such exposure may lead to widespread suffering. In 1991, veterans began to exhibit fatigue, fevers, rashes, joint pain, intestinal problems, memory loss, mood swings and even cancers, a cluster of symptoms and conditions referred to now as Gulf war syndrome (or illness). For years, the US department of defense maintained that stress caused the veterans’ symptoms. Veterans groups blamed war-related toxins. This year, the National Academy of Sciences published an extensive review of years of scientific study of Gulf war illness that concluded a cause and effect relationship existed between the widespread illnesses among veterans and exposure to powerful neurotoxins. Complementing the US studies is an emerging body of epidemiological data linking increased incidence of Iraqi cancer, birth defects, infant mortality and multi-system diseases to toxic exposure.
Strangely enough, though, there has been almost no discussion of whether today’s soldiers – those fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan – have also been injured by wartime poisons. We don’t have a word yet for the constellation of cancers, psychological ills and systemic diseases that may be caused by toxins in today’s wars.
In order to care for our veterans, we must do more than offer state-of-the-art hospitals and high-tech prosthetics. Veterans will need information about what poisons they have breathed or touched or drunk and when.
What would such an effort look like? First the military would need to disclose all known incidents of toxic exposure. Then it would have to reach out to veterans and give them information about how to receive care for conditions that arise from this exposure.
This summer, senator Evan Bayh made a first stab at such a system. Bayh pushed the national guard to track down hundreds of those Indiana soldiers who may have breathed orange dust back in 2003. Most of the soldiers are now civilians scattered across the US, unaware that they are at high risk for lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Some of them may already be struggling with illness. The national guard is making an effort to search for these veterans and provide them with a phone number to call in order to seek medical help.
That’s a good first step. But what about all the other veterans who believe that they have returned home from the war healthy? Without knowing it, they may be carrying a small bomb inside them. And they have a right to know.
A federal health panel released conclusions Monday that evidence strongly and consistently indicates hundreds of thousands of US troops in the first Gulf War contracted long-term illnesses from use of pills, given by their own military to protect them from effects of chemical weaponized nerve agents, and from their military’s pesticide use during deployment.
Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses report covers a large range of scientific research and government investigations on Gulf War illness. Its authors claim their “comprehensive analysis” resolves many questions about what caused Gulf War illness and what types of health care can address these serious conditions, which affect at least one in four of the 697,000 Gulf War veterans.
A committee summary describes veterans’ various, painfully nagging and long-term health obstacles. “Illness profiles typically include some combination of chronic headaches, cognitive difficulties, widespread pain, unexplained fatigue, chronic diarrhea, skin rashes, respiratory problems, and other abnormalities. This symptom complex, now commonly referred to as Gulf War illness, is not explained by routine medical evaluations or by psychiatric diagnoses and has persisted, for many veterans, for 17 years. While specific symptoms can vary between individuals, a remarkably consistent illness profile has emerged from hundreds of reports and studies of different Gulf War veteran populations from different regions of the US and from allied countries.”
In addition to pills supposedly protecting soldiers from nerve agents, the deadly agents themselves ultimately became a crucial wartime exposure. During the January and February 1991 ground war and after, US and allied forces destroyed large stores of Iraqi chemical weapons. And, as the war itself progressed, thousands of military chemical alarms went off, causing soldiers to don chemical protective equipment. Since then, the US General Accountability Office (GAO) and veterans’ advocates have repeatedly criticized the lack of quality of the chemical protective masks and protective suits worn by US troops.
Two of the most controversial after-war explosions of underground Iraqi chemical storage depots were set off by US forces themselves at Khamisiyah, Iraq, on March 4 and 10, 1991. Few of the troops were wearing protective gear at the time even though US forces had access to earlier intelligence reports detailing the chemicals inside the bombed bunkers. The Defense Department (DoD) first estimated that 5,000 troops were exposed, and then increased the estimates repeatedly until the number rose to 100,000. Another GAO report said the number is much higher than that but gave no specific figure. At the time and years afterward, the DoD claimed the troops’ exposure to chemical warfare agents was too weak to have seriously harmed their health.
Still another of the Research Advisory Committee’s conclusions says, “Studies indicate that Gulf War veterans have significantly higher rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) than other veterans, and that Gulf War veterans potentially exposed to nerve agents have died from brain cancer at elevated rates. Although these conditions have affected relatively few veterans, they are cause for concern and require continued monitoring.”
Pesticides, mentioned in Monday’s committee report, were used routinely during the war to protect service members against harmful or molesting insects biting troops throughout the Iraq war zone. Common Gulf War insecticides included d-phenothrin, chlorpyrifos, resmethrin, malathion, methomyl and lindane, according to the US Department of Defense Deployment Health Clinical Center. Deet and permethrin (a pyrethroid), are technically repellents rather than insecticides, says the center, but they were also an ultimate health concern, the center opines.
The Research Advisory Committee’s continued conclusions say that limited other evidence, not totally decisive, shows that the armed service members could have become sick from low-level exposure to chemical warfare nerve agents as well as their close proximity to oil well fires, their receipt of multiple so-called preventative vaccines, and the effects of combinations of their hazardous other Gulf War exposures.
The report was issued by the committee to US Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake. “The VA has accepted and implemented prior recommendations of the committee and values the work represented in the report presented today. Secretary Peake thanked the committee for its report and recommendations and directed VA to review and respond to the committee’s recommendations in the near future,” said Alison Aikele, a VA spokesperson. Despite receiving at least one adverse comment via email, the VA did not respond to that criticism. As well, Charlene Reynolds, a defense contract spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said the DoD is preparing a similar statement without yet being sure when it would be released.
The Committee report knocks down repeated theories of largely Pentagon-funded studies that one of the main causes of all these wartime illnesses was post-traumatic stress disorders or other mental ailments. “Gulf War illness fundamentally differs from trauma and stress-related syndromes described after other wars,” concludes the report. “Studies consistently indicate that Gulf War illness is not the result of combat or other stressors and that Gulf War veterans have lower rates of post traumatic stress disorder than veterans of other wars.” This discredits the Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s extensive studies of Gulf War veterans, which concluded stress was a major cause of Gulf War illnesses.
The Research Advisory Committee’s conclusions additionally minimize other allegedly sickening Gulf War exposures, including depleted uranium munitions blasts, anthrax vaccine use, fuels, solvents, sand and particulates, infectious diseases and chemical agent resistant coating (CARC). However, numerous other scientific reports have earlier concluded these exposures, too, sometimes proved extremely sickening for war veterans.
Highlighted by the committee’s findings is what many veterans’ advocates have called the gross negligence of responsible federal health and military agencies in repeatedly failing to get to the bottom of what the government labeled the “mysterious Gulf War syndrome” illnesses. What’s more, during three presidential reigns and several sessions of US Congresses, the highest level officials continuously discussed these hazards and resulting troop illnesses and deaths, but never came to their own ultimate conclusions or scientific plans to deal with the health consequences.
Denise Nichols, a veteran nurse, retired Army major and vice chair of National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition, has worked many years to assist sick Gulf War service members. “The veterans of the Gulf War 90-91 did not give up,” wrote the nurse. “They knew that physically something in their bodies was damaged. They have been stating this since November 1993, when the first hearings [in Congress] occurred. Their family members have seen it and tried to hold their families together waiting for answers from the government. It has been an exceedingly difficult nightmare for these veterans and their families. Many were told that it was psychological or somatic and [so] families left their veteran loved ones behind. [And,] many of these veterans have died, [been] forgotten [or] misdiagnosed. It is time now that the government declassify all [wartime and post war] records that might provide more answers. After all, in 2003, we liberated Iraq, so many ask now, ‘Why not let these records that may provide answers be fully declassified?'”
After the end of 43 days of dirty chemical and environmental Gulf War chaos when former President George H.W. Bush laid out conditions for a cease fire on Feb. 27, 1991, hundreds of thousands of US, allied, Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians suffered resulting long-term illnesses and, ultimately, untold deaths. Very limited medical attention has ever been paid by US federal agencies to sick Iraqi civilians the US military and their private contractors were supposed to protect.
Today, close to 18 years later, US and foreign governments are still making promises, struggling and conversing over failed attempts to give the combatants and civilians proper health care. Meanwhile, as the US fights the second war in Iraq and continues along with the war in Afghanistan, the failed attempts to deal with US casualties and sicknesses continues at a similar dragged out pace. “When will they ever get it done?” war veterans have repeatedly asked themselves and others.
Monday, the 14-member Research Advisory Committee and a consultant, composed of doctors, scientists and veterans, confirmed these thousands of Gulf War One veterans’ haunting and frustrating concerns. It concluded, “Federal Gulf War research programs have not been effective, historically, in addressing priority issues related to Gulf War illness and the health of Gulf War veterans. Substantial federal Gulf War research funding has been used for studies that have little or no relevance to the health of Gulf War veterans, and for research on stress and psychiatric illness … A renewed federal research commitment is needed to identify effective treatments for Gulf War illness and address other priority Gulf War health issues.”
“After 17 years of official government delays and denials, VA’s Research Advisory Committee should be commended for their work providing facts about Gulf War illnesses,” said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS). “Veterans for Common Sense is concerned that there are up to 210,000 Gulf War veterans who remain ill after serving the 1991 Gulf War, and these veterans still need healthcare and disability benefits.”
“VCS urges Congress to fund new research into why so many Gulf War veterans are ill as well as fund research into desperately needed medical treatments for veterans. VCS also urges top VA officials to review the conduct of the VA Central Office staff who blocked scientific research and treatments for veterans, especially VA’s contracts with the Institute of Medicine that improperly excluded animal studies from scientific review. The VA Central Office staff who needlessly delayed research, treatment, and disability benefits for hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans should be held accountable for their actions,” said Sullivan.
He continued, “The facts now show that top Pentagon officials failed to assist Gulf War veterans by clinging to the myth that Gulf War illnesses was related to stress.” Sullivan went on to say that the US Army “neglected to consider the many toxic exposures as potential causes of Gulf War illnesses, even after Gulf War veterans raised these as serious possibilities.”
The committee identified four areas of highest priority research to assist sick Gulf War veterans as follows:
1) Evaluate the effectiveness of currently available treatments used for Gulf War illness or conditions with similarities to Gulf War illness.
2) Pilot trials and/or observational studies capable of identifying promising treatments suitable for evaluation in larger clinical trials.
3) Identification of specific pathophysiological mechanisms underlying Gulf War illness that are potentially amenable to treatment interventions.
4) Assess novel therapies based on scientific findings as they emerge.
Gulf War syndrome is a widely used term to refer to the unexplained illnesses occurring in Gulf War veterans.
What are the symptoms of Gulf War syndrome?
The following are the most common symptoms of Gulf War syndrome. However, each person experiences symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:
fatigue
musculoskeletal pain
cognitive problems
skin rashes
diarrhea
Symptoms of Gulf War syndrome may resemble other medical conditions. Always consult your physician for a diagnosis. Symptoms continue to pose a frustrating problem for affected veterans and their physicians. Despite extensive research, the cause of the syndrome remains unexplained.
The impact of Gulf War syndrome:
According to the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, at least 12 percent of Gulf War veterans are currently receiving some form of disability compensation because of Gulf War syndrome.
What are the possible causes of Gulf War syndrome?
Possible causes include:
chemical warfare agents, particularly nerve gas, or pyridostigmine bromide, which was given as a preventive measure to soldiers likely to be exposed to chemical warfare agents.
psychological factors, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Veterans with Gulf War syndrome symptoms have high rates of accompanying psychiatric disorders.
other chemical agents, such as smoke from oil well fires, pesticides, depleted uranium or exposure to solvents and corrosive liquids used during repair and maintenance.
Treatment for Gulf War syndrome:
While there is no specific treatment for Gulf War syndrome, research suggests than an approach called cognitive-behavioral therapy may help patients with non-specific symptoms syndromes lead more productive lives by actively managing their symptoms.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is conducting a two-year, scientifically controlled study to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy for veterans with these symptoms.
Other research involving Gulf War syndrome:
Research into Gulf War syndrome, which remains controversial, is taking place in research centers around the country.
The phrase Gulf War Syndrome was created by the media, Not the DoD/VA medical staff or the troops/veterans. Very few troops/veterans got to see Environmental Medicine, Travel Medicine, Industrial Hygiene, Travel Medicine doctors unless we paid for their services out of (personal) pocket. If the incorrect diagnostics is used, one will not find abnormal values! In 1990-91 OSHA protections, standards were not in place for deployed troops. The studies show that vaccines during this period were of poor quality and some were listed as experimental given to U.S. troops. If only 10% suffered from exposures during GW service, there would be how many sick from 600,000 ? These 10% is what I call disposable GI`s. Your sons and daughters. GW syndrome does not and never existed – GW Exposure Illnesses (at least 33 variants) still disables veterans 18 years later. Army GW incapacitated vet http://post-deployment.blogspot.com http://www.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee
Gulf war syndrome I agree 100%. I’m a marine who was vaccinated. I served in the theater of operation from 09/90 thru 04/91. I was discharged 12/93. Shortly later at the VA med center JP Boston I read about Gulf War Syndrome study. I had signed up for it. My blood blood was drawn, and tested. Weeks later the results were in. I had qualified for the study. At that time I agreed to participate. I was told the reason I qualified was that I had an infection in my blood called Mycoplasma infection. It was a double blind study. Neither me or the doctor knew I was on an antibiotic or a placebo. I took medication for 12 months not knowing what I was taking. Blood was drawn once again for a follow up. The results came back negative, I had no mycoplasma in my blood. I thought this was great, but then they told me I was on a placebo for 12 months. They said I had no symptoms of GWS. After that I let it go. Until recently (thanks to the internet) I have researched GWS/Mycoplasma infection. How could I have a mycoplasma infection in my blood, and 12 Months later after being on a placebo they say my blood work is good. I don`t understand how a placebo can take mycoplasma out of your system. I have researched on this, and have found articles where the CIA has submitted false information about Iraq, and chemical weapons during Desert storm. Trying to say GWS is from Iraq`s chemical weapons. Do the research for yourself it will not take long
Dr Blockbuster (Vince) of XX Mar 30, 2009 13:07:32 PM
Gulf War Syndrome I am done. the VA wants me to FKN die loading me up on up to 18 diff meds a day spinning me of from one “specialist” to the next never doing a damn thing, changed my Pri care 3 times in 5 month`s, lost my records -“deny deny deny until they die”- should be the new motto. Good luck out there all you vets your gonna need it. TM out…
The Gulf Conspiracy of Gulf War Syndrome
18 years later, what do we see – just more and more and more and MORE lab experiments on possible causes of Gulf War Syndrome.
Do the Gulf Vets care about this? – no! , what they want and DESERVE WITHOUT RESERVATION is recognition of their symptoms, the best treatment available, and recompense from the respective governments. Oh, and also, I should point out that these are sought as soon as possible and not in the year 2100 when only historians will be around to consider the facts.
No doubt the “flawed vaccinations” were a major (not sole) cause of GWS and it doesn’t take a Philadelphia lawyer to work that out when you consider the negligible GWS effect on French troops who were not similarly vaccinated with the anthrax vaccine like the US and British forces. Strange also how troops vaccinated at home base at the end of the War developed symptoms though THEY NEVER WENT to the theater of operations.
Why pump all this money into research when the primary directive after 18 years is surely to treat symptoms as opposed to produce theorems. How are Gulf vets to feel reading about experiments like this … cheered or “talked over” yet again.
Even this month, in the UK, Lord Craig of Radley (Marshal of the Royal Air Force), chief of the Defense Staff in the 1991 Gulf War, called on ministers to act “urgently” on important US findings about the debilitating illness.
If you wish you can read more FACTS and INFORMATION here: http://www.blockbusterbooks.co.uk/1.html
Dr Blockbuster will continue to highlight the lack of closure on GWS after 18 years – HOW LONG MUST THIS NONSENSE CONTINUE?
ALVIN PRITCHARD. of XX Mar 28, 2009 08:35:50 AM GULF COVER UP SYNDROME.
Are we gulf vets going to take this lying down? OR, are we going to do something about it ? REMEMBER our governments are now laughing at us behind closed doors now that they have had there dirty work done for them! and they really don`t care a toss about any health issues of anybody. They are only interested in how to dodge and avoid the issue! The evidence is their attitude over the last 18 years on the subject ! my faith in you is TOTAL,—– God bless.
Darin of MD Mar 27, 2009 12:32:02 PM ditto
Join the club….there are thousands of us. Kidney’s failed and laundry list of probs. Fight the fight still.
Anne Wright of CA Mar 25, 2009 23:24:07 PM
Cholinesterase inhibitor sensitivity
There are a number of genetic polymorphisms related to cholinesterase (BCHE and ACHE genes) that can make some people more susceptible to cholinesterase inhibitors than others.
Hermona Soreq and her colleagues have done the best work I have found on this. Chapter 4 of the book “Cholinesterases and Cholinesterase Inhibitors” By Ezio Giacobini covers this well (http://books.google.com/books?id=g87duHRuvDQC&pg=PA47).
At least some of these polymorphisms appear on the list of SNPs that places like 23andMe and deCODEme test for. I am very curious what it would show if the veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome were tested for the BCHE and ACHE related SNPs Dr. Soreq mentions, and how well those results would correlate with the findings of Dr. Haley’s imaging studies.
Also, if you are prone to sensitivity to cholinesterase inhibitors, stress and past exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors apparently can make you more sensitive, even to small doses, in the future. There are cholinesterase inhibitors in the food we eat — particularly nightshade vegetables (potato, tomato, peppers, and eggplant), and pesticide residue on non-organic produce. I have found that trying very hard to avoid eating foods that contain cholinesterase inhibitors a lot of symptoms similar to those described above eventually improve or even go away. It can take a while, since these toxins can persist a long time (weeks to months), but it can help a lot.
I wonder if trying to modify their diets to reduce exposure to food-borne cholinesterase inhibitors might also help veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome.
Chris Peterson of OK Mar 25, 2009 15:20:32 PM
Gulf war
I am a 37yo veteran of the Gulf War. I served as a liaison for United States 142nd field artillery.I started suffering from headaches, sleeplessness, fatigue, rashes, oral ulcers, mood disturbances, GI problems, muscle stiffness and pain, burning semen, and other various unexplainable symptoms. Not knowing what was wrong with me or how to deal with it I self medicated with marijuana to deal with the chronic pain and sleeplessness. After a failed marriage and several jobs I rec’d a letter in 2000 from the secretary of defense. In his words “If you were with your unit from March 3rd – March 10th 1991 you may indeed have been exposed to low levels of chemical nerve agent for a brief period of no more than 3 days.There is no conclusive evidence to prove that any long term health effects can be caused by a brief low level exposure to chemical nerve agent.” I decided to go to the VA. I thought I was going to receive help, understanding, or treatment to improve my quality of life, instead, I got a bunch of pills thrown at me the pills did not seem to work so they tried something else after several scripts none of which helped even a little I lost faith in the doctors.After expressing my dissatisfaction with the results to the Dr I was directed to mental health where more scripts were given after saying this drug is not working I was told to take twice as much of the medication. I`m currently 80% service connected (= to a house payment & electric bill) it took 5 years to get that if not for my wife I would have given up totally. the VA is not going to HELP YOU IN ANY WAY to get compensation. Ive been told this by the Dr. Instead they are there to discredit any evidence you might have to support your claim. Basically if you don`t have a good Dr. of your own who will point the finger toward your military service as causing your ailments your screwed. The DAV also misplaced several of my documents at key times (just before decisions) which caused another denial or two which prolonged my process by 2 years. the DAV also changed the wording on my claim 2years into the process which ultimately cost me 2 years of back pay. Its up to you totally to present your case in such a way they can not deny you. If you can prove you were there and have the evidence you need and the ailments they are willing to pay for you will get what should have been handed to you. I am not working, my last job (dealing cards at a casino part time) I cant do.Sitting in one position for extended period is very painful as is anything requiring strength. Sleeping is all but impossible without drugs. 2 months after returning from war I took a PT test my normal 11min 2 mile run took 15 min I had to walk the last 1/4 mile, just could not take in enough air overall my test score was down 25%. I live in Oklahoma and my claim was only successful after getting my senator involved.I would be happy to talk to anyone who was there if I can help I will. I`m ashamed of my country’s use of service members
Michael Akullian of FL Mar 25, 2009 06:07:43 AM
gulf war
I personally suffer chest pains headaches nausea gastro-intestinal shakes body pain involuntary multiple muscle twitching especially on left eye and side of face and body fatigue sleeplessness flue like symptoms respiratory and just generally physical and mental issues loss of memory mood and so on i suffer every day symptoms started one week after forced injections non FDA approved anthrax vaccine DEC 1990 Hahn AB Germany i got sick while in gulf war have combat medical record Jan 91. upon return may 91 ordered not to donate blood for contamination and gulf war illness and after ten year honorable air force career not allowed to finish my career or reenlist because of mandatory strength reduction and downsizing.after FDA shut down anthrax vaccine program at bio port Lansing Michigan I received letter from Miami VA hospital to participate in Persian gulf war registry program and got a physical and applied for benefits.produced Jan 91 combat medical record to VA st pete regional office but in my original denial they changed it to a may 95 VA hospital visit to discredit record also compensation doctors had policy to discredit gulf war illness and instead they diagnosed me with PTSD and i was on pain sleep and nerve meds for years and it almost killed me don`t take any now but this purpose driven medical agenda has made me worst off than before i tried to get help. St Pete regional board of VA appeals and us court of appeals have all denied me for benefits and one reason is because they say its pre existing or mental or my factual statements are of layman quality even though i was a respiratory tech and pharmacy tech for a home health care company.also retire Admiral Crowe got his buddy Clinton to restart anthrax vaccine program in 1997 after he purchased bio port for pennies on the dollar. crazy messed main stream Americans i wish i never got all those vaccines and pills and i wish i never served because most Americans and America are not worth the pain and illnesses i have on a daily basis for the last 18 years at least you would think i would get 100% compensation and back pay but the government would rather spend the money mis-diagnosing me and fighting me foe benefits. i have a new appeal at us court of appeals for veterans claims but don`t have much faith because that court is not part of VA and will not accept or change records or fix the purpose driven mistakes the denial boards and medical teams opinions have made over the years and at that court level its me verses the secretary of veterans affairs and his team of lawyers. tried many times to get help form my congress people in Florida but all they do is inquire status of my claim which i obviously already know. my career health and gainful lively hood have suffered and i consider myself damaged goods and thought it was best to post this reluctantly because it is humiliating and embarrassing but so is America.
ALVIN PRITCHARD of XX Mar 25, 2009 00:13:16 AM
GULF COVER UP SYNDROME.
Alvin Pritchard was a Welsh Cavelry trooper during the 1st gulf war, and served with 1st THE QUEENS DRAGOON GUARDS. British army. He fought along side the 7th U.S. marine corps during op. desert shield. He now lives in Wales, U.K.
Before her last deployment, 31-year-old Staff Sergeant Danielle Nienajadlo passed her Army physical with flying colors. So when she started having health problems several weeks after arriving at Balad Air Base in Iraq, no one knew what to make of her symptoms: headaches that kept her awake; unexplained bruises all over her body; an open sore on her back that wouldn’t heal; vomiting and weight loss. In July 2008, after three miserable months, Nienajadlo checked into the base emergency room with a 104-degree fever.
She was sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and learned she had been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-progressing form of the disease. She told her doctors and her family she had felt fine until she started inhaling the oily black smoke that spewed out of the base’s open-air trash-burning facility day and night. At times, the plume contained dioxins, some of which can cause the kind of cancer Nienajadlo had.
“She breathed in this gunk,” says her mother, Lindsay Weidman. “She’d go back to the hooch at night to go to bed and cough up these black chunks.”
In the past 17 months, more than 500 veterans have contacted Disabled American Veterans (DAV), a national nonprofit serving vets, to report illnesses they blame on the burn pits. Throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, contractors—many of the burn pits are operated by companies like former Halliburton subsidiary KBR—have dumped hundreds of tons of refuse into giant open-air trenches, doused the piles with fuel, and left them to burn. The trash includes plastic, metal, asbestos, batteries, tires, unexploded ordnance, medical waste, even entire trucks. (The military now operates several actual incinerators and has made efforts to create recycling programs, but the majority of war-zone trash is still burned in pits.)
On Burn Pits Action Center, a website operated by the staff of Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.)—who learned of the problem via the reporting of Army Times writer Kelly Kennedy in 2008—GIs describe dumping rat poison, hydraulic fluid, and pressure-treated wood into the pits. “When the question was raised about what we were off-loading for burning, the answer was along the lines of ‘Don’t worry about it as the heat will burn up the bad stuff so it isn’t a threat,'” reported Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class John Wingfield, who served near Balad in 2004 and 2005.
Veterans’ groups worry that the smoke floods bases with a stew of carcinogens, toxins, and lung-clogging fine particles. An Army study released in early 2009 found that particulate matter at 15 sites exceeded both EPA and US military standards. Even short-term exposure could sicken—or kill—service members, the report warns. As early as 2006, an Air Force engineer stationed at Balad warned superiors in a memo that smoke from the burn pits presented “an acute health hazard” for service members. “It is amazing that the burn pit has been able to operate without restrictions over the past several years,” the engineer, Lt. Colonel Darrin Curtis, wrote. Military statistics also show a steep increase in respiratory problems in troops since the start of the Iraq War.
In a written statement, KBR told Mother Jones that it operates burn pits “pursuant to Army guidelines and regulations.” The military’s own air sampling has turned up dioxins, volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, and other potential hazards in the air at Balad. The Pentagon has insisted they were at levels that posed no significant threat—though last December, a top military health official acknowledged to the Salt Lake Tribune that smoke from the pits may cause long-term health problems. (Neither Pentagon officials nor the White House responded to requests for comment on this story.)
The government’s reluctance to acknowledge the potential hazard has frustrated veterans’ advocates, who remember how long it took for the Pentagon to recognize Gulf War Syndrome in the 1990s, and to acknowledge the health problems caused by aerial spraying during the Vietnam War. “We don’t want another Agent Orange,” says John L. Wilson, DAV’s assistant national legislative director. “Silence does not do any good.”
If the pits are harming troops and Iraqis, there’s no telling how many. Many cancers won’t reveal themselves for a decade or more, and many respiratory symptoms tend to be misdiagnosed as asthma. Like Nienajadlo, Air Force Reserve Lt. Colonel Michelle Franco, 48, had a clean bill of health when she shipped out to Balad three years ago. The 18-foot walls surrounding her quarters kept out mortar fire, but not the smoke: “You could smell it; you could taste it.” As a nurse, Franco suspected the “plume crud” was hazardous. She knew that in addition to amputated limbs from her medical facility, the base’s waste included hundreds of thousands of water bottles every week—and she knew burning plastic releases cancer-causing dioxins. After just five months at the base, Franco sustained permanent lung damage. She’s lucky, she says, that she kept asking questions when harried doctors handed her an inhaler. She expects her diagnosis—untreatable reactive airway dysfunction syndrome—to ultimately push her into retirement.
Many vets won’t realize that their illness might be service related, notes Franco. But official recognition is key to get them proper screening and benefits. Last fall, Rep. Bishop managed to pass legislation limiting the military’s freedom to burn waste and directing the Pentagon to do a study on the pits’ health effects. Given that this may take years, Bishop is also calling for an Agent Orange-like registry of those at risk.
Meanwhile a DC-based law firm, Burke LLC (which has also pursued claims for Abu Ghraib torture victims and Iraqi civilians killed by Blackwater guards), has filed suit against Halliburton and KBR on behalf of about 300 injured veterans and their survivors; the firm estimates that some 100,000 people have been exposed. “These troops were more injured by the smoke and the toxins than by combat,” says attorney Elizabeth Burke.
Staff Sergeant Nienajadlo died March 20, 2009, exactly 13 years from the day she enlisted. She left behind three children, ages 3, 8, and 10, and a husband who is also in the service. Before she fell ill, Nienajadlo confided to her mother that she was scared of serving in Iraq. But she worried about mortar attacks and roadside bombs—not the Army’s own trash.
French Finally Prove Gulf War Syndrome Caused by “Cocktail” Inoculations
by Joe Vialls
January 6th 1996
Edited January 12th 2003,Updated January 25th 003 by Jeff Schogol
Rather than help the media in its never-ending quest to lay misleading smoke screens around the true origins of Gulf War Syndrome, General Roquejoffre appears to have used his statement to finally isolate and expose the real villain behind the debilitating and sometimes lethal disease.
Many years ago before gaining access to the Internet, I wrote a report about the most likely causes of Gulf War Syndrome. The report slowly moved around the world by snail mail, and was eventually published in four small magazines. Then I forgot all about the report for a few years, because the nightmare symptoms being suffered by Gulf War veterans in America and Britain, seemed light years away from my sleepy little backwater in Western Australia. That was before George W. Bush decided to do the whole thing all over again, in his increasingly frantic and very public attempts to pillage Middle East oil for Wall Street. Though I am obviously powerless to prevent Bush from ruthlessly sacrificing American lives in the Iraqi desert, I can at least sound a warning designed to minimize the physical and psychological impact on servicemen before they leave for the Gulf, and after they hopefully return.
There is no doubt that the panic generated by the false “War on Terror” is already being used to coerce people into accepting “preventative medical treatment“, that in a more sane world they would instantly refuse. Most profitable by far for the pharmaceutical multinationals backing the Bush Dynasty, are inoculations forced onto service men and women by legislation. Taking the dreaded “Anthrax Shots” as an example, the manufacturer makes a net profit of $18.00 out of every single individual, a figure that has to be multiplied by 2.4 million to get a true feel for multinational profit margins. It is a harsh fact that the Anthrax vaccine being forcibly administered to service men and women today, is the same as that included in the deadly Gulf War “cocktail” inoculations of 1990-1991. This has no meaning whatever for politicians who habitually bend forward over a desk when their masters approach from behind, but it might have some meaning for you. In the event that the multinationals manage to spark a “civil emergency” somewhere near your own home, be advised that you too will be forced to accept exactly the same untested but hugely profitable vaccine as military personnel bound for the Persian Gulf.
The direct relationship between the Anthrax shots of today and the “cocktail” of yesterday is deeply troubling, and is the prime reason for reviving, editing, and adding to this 1995 report. You might find part of the text disturbing, which is probably a very good thing. It is difficult to protect your family from government-induced harm if you are not completely alert. “During late 1995, devastating new evidence on Gulf War Syndrome was released, providing undeniable hard scientific proof for those who have long suspected that Gulf veterans are suffering short and long-term effects of unproven anti-bacteriological warfare inoculations and anti-nerve gas tablets, forcibly administered by U.S. Army doctors in Saudi Arabia.
With thousands of U.S. veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, it came as no surprise to learn in October 1995 that several hundred British veterans were suffering in the same way, with three to five new cases being reported every week. Like their U.S. counterparts, most were puzzled by the origins of the disease, which they initially attributed to oil-laden smoke in Kuwait, toxic dust from depleted uranium rounds fired by U.S. weapons, and possible contamination from expended Iraqi chemical shells in the area, fired before the Gulf War commenced.
In a startling break with tradition, one British military doctor stated that in her view, 99% of the problems could be sourced back to the anti-bacteriological warfare “Cocktail Inoculations“, and anti-nerve gas tablets forcibly administered to military personnel in the Gulf region at that time. In an October 1995 broadcast of the ITN TV World News from London, she further explained that all British military personnel had been provided with the same untested and unproven drugs as the Americans, from U.S. medical sources. To reinforce the point, the doctor explained that the number of British personnel suffering symptoms correlated exactly on a per capita basis with U.S. personnel. It was a controversial claim, but apparently lacking in substance.
Shattering confirmation came eleven hours later, when Australian Channel 10 television carried exactly the same story at 5 p.m., but with an extra piece tagged onto the end. The extra piece claimed that French military personnel in the Gulf region, numbering the same as the British contingent, had been prevented from taking the “cocktails” and tablets on the direct orders of the French Commander-in-Chief. The story claimed that since the end of the Gulf War, not a single member of the French military has suffered from Gulf War Syndrome, or reported any of its symptoms. One hour later at 6 p.m. when the other Australian television networks ran their news broadcasts, the awesome story with its stunning proof had vanished from sight. Nor was it reported in the Australian newspapers.
For any scientist or veteran, the fact that the French should be completely clear of Gulf War Syndrome while the Americans and British suffered huge numbers of cases verified on a direct per capita basis, has huge and horrifying implications. After all, the French ate the same food, drank the same water, breathed the same air and trudged through hundreds of miles of the same desert. They also fired similar weapons at similar targets. So what were the additional factors that made the French unique in their ability to completely withstand the deadly Gulf War Syndrome? The truth is there were none at all, save for the experimental American “cocktail” inoculations and nerve gas tablets. What the French had done, almost by accident, was provide hard scientific proof of the direct cause of Gulf War Syndrome. This proof took the form of its large 25,000-strong contingent of French servicemen participating n the Gulf War, who in all respects constituted a valid medical “control group”.
For the uninitiated, here is an example of how a “control group” might be used in medical trials: Let us say that the manufacturer of a new “chest hair” drug wants to run a clinical trial to check its efficiency, using 500,000 men. Out of this total, 475,000 [Americans and Brits] are given the real “chest hair” pill, while the remaining 25,000 [French] are used as a control group and given only a placebo, i.e. an identical looking sugar-coated pill with no active ingredients. If at the end of the trial all men with enhanced chest hair were found in the main group, with not a single case in the control group, the new “chest hair” drug would immediately be approved by medical authorities. It really is that simple. Applying the same process in reverse, proves in definitive medical terms that untested Anthrax and botulism potions kill far more servicemen than enemy gunfire.
In an attempt to confirm this vital though very short-lived Gulf War Syndrome data, the author contacted the French Military Attaché in Australia and inquired if it was correct that the French Commander-in-Chief forbade his own personnel the untested substances. The Military Attaché was happy to confirm this, and also confirmed that not one French soldier or airman has suffered since the end of the Gulf War. It seemed to be a subject of which he was very proud, and rightly so. Perhaps it is time for U.S. and British veterans to confirm the same points with their local French consulates, before taking a very hefty legal swing at their own governments.”
On 3rd October 1996, nine months after this report was first published in two small American magazines, and then brought to the attention of the White House, the prestigious New York Times suddenly added a new dimension [and thus a possible new cause for Gulf War Syndrome]. According to the newspaper, an Iraqi chemical weapons dump at Kamisiyah was bombed extensively by U.S. jets before the ground campaign, meaning soldiers could have been exposed before their assault. The New York Times did not attempt to explain why this news was being reported five years after the event, nor why it was suddenly so important to bring the matter to the attention of the American public.
Once again, affected veterans and the public settled down into a confused silence, their suspicions blunted by media-induced patriotic guilt. How dare they even imagine that caring American pharmaceutical multinationals would hurt them or their families, when all along the real culprit was obviously Saddam Hussein and his evil “weapons of mass destruction”? The Kamisiyah “link” to Gulf War Syndrome was ruthlessly exploited, with official Pentagon confirmation that the dump itself was finally destroyed on 4 March 1991 by the 37th Engineering Battalion, who “did not know” that nerve gas was stored there when they triggered the demolition charges. So, victims and public alike were coaxed into believing that American and other troops located downwind of the demolition, had been affected solely by “Iraqi” toxins.
It was truly brilliant media propaganda, but failed to take into account those incredibly annoying Frenchmen, who seemed to be everywhere in southern Iraq at the same time as the Americans and British. Proportionately speaking, the same number of “French Control Group” troops were present when Kamisiyah was bombed and finally demolished, but not one of them suffered or even reported any of the effects of “Gulf War Syndrome”. And before you ask, yes, the French did indeed trudge wearily through the same areas of southern Iraq littered with depleted uranium 238 as the Americans and British. But still there is absolutely no trace of Gulf War Syndrome in any French soldier.
It does not take a rocket scientist to work out where this report is heading. Just look at the hard facts and ignore the pathetic lobby, media, and academic hype. As already discussed, all coalition troops regardless of nationality shared the same air and water, they all walked or drove over the same terrain, and they all used similar weapons against similar targets. But what about external body protection? Did the French have vastly superior bio-warfare suits that somehow magically gave them “the edge” over American and British personnel? No, they did not. The bio-warfare suits worn by the French, came from exactly the same stock as those worn by the Americans and British. The only variables left at this point in the report, are the un-trialed “cocktail” inoculations and the nerve gas tablets.
Under heavy media pressure in late October 2000, the retired commander of French forces in the Gulf, General Michel Roquejoffre, admitted that his men were in fact ordered to take nerve gas tablets [pyridostigmine bromide] during the Gulf War, but only for four days when mistakenly believed to be under direct chemical attack. The General pointed out that this four days of intermittent French exposure to nerve gas tablets, contrasts sharply with their continuous use for months on end by American and British servicemen. However, General Roquejoffre emphasized that at no time did he allow any French serviceman to receive the highly controversial un-trialed American “cocktail” inoculation.
Rather than help the media in its never-ending quest to lay misleading smoke screens around the true origins of Gulf War Syndrome, General Roquejoffre appears to have used his statement to finally isolate and expose the real villain behind the debilitating and sometimes lethal disease. Having “admitted” that some of his troops took the nerve gas tablets during the Gulf War, General Roquejoffre has wittingly or unwittingly removed the nerve gas tablet variable, leaving only the lethal American “cocktail” inoculation, which included the untested Anthrax vaccine being irresponsibly peddled today by assorted western politicians, as the sole and scientifically proven cause of Gulf War Syndrome.
British Servicemen Throw Deadly Anthrax Vaccine Overboard!
January 25th 2003 Up-Date
On January 4th 2003 a confidential copy of my updated report on the single cause of Gulf War Syndrome was sent directly to a number of military computer servers in America, Britain and Australia. With servicemen already being ordered to submit to a debilitating or lethal dose of un-trialed and unproven Anthrax “vaccine” directly linked to GWS, it seemed wise to ensure that they saw the work before it was officially posted on the Internet. Web sites can be attacked all too easily, and a number of mine have been totally destroyed in the last six months.
Not long after Prime Minister Tony Blair arrogantly waved goodbye to 30,000 British servicemen departing England for the Persian Gulf aboard a fleet of Navy vessels, locals in Dorset and Devon started reporting a very strange phenomenon. Thousands of [unused] vials of Anthrax Vaccine started washing up on their beaches. Some locals started panicking, thinking that perhaps they were being attacked by a country or countries known to have vast stockpiles of this ruthless killer – most notably America and Israel. But their heart rates came down again when Health Department officials visited the areas and explained the thousands of vials on the beaches were in fact “cures in bottles”. Jim Moore, a spokesman for the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (NGVFA), said his organization has no conclusive proof that the vaccine vials that washed up in Dorset, southern England, were thrown overboard. But Moore noted that the circumstances surrounding the vaccine find are suspicious.
“For anything to be accidentally washed overboard on an aircraft carrier is highly unusual,” he said. “This gives us cause for concern and there are a lot of questions that need to be asked.” The organization said it has heard anecdotal evidence of mistiming of vaccines from current service personnel. The NGVFA believes that improperly administered vaccines might be one of the causes behind “Gulf War Syndrome“, a mysterious collection of symptoms that is thought to afflict tens of thousands of veterans in Britain and the United States. “People say you accept the risks when you sign up to join the forces,” Moore said. “That’s true, but the risk you accept is one of an enemy bullet or a landmine. You don’t accept the risk of being a guinea pig for a vaccine, all the mistakes made in the Gulf War are being made again.”
A Ministry of Defense spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that an internal investigation into the vaccine find was underway. “We wouldn’t like to speculate on where the vaccine might have come from at this stage,” she said. “There has been a large amount of speculation in the press and this isn’t helpful. The investigation will uncover the source of the vaccine.” Peering judiciously behind the official veil, of course reveals that the only sources for the thousands of “shipwrecked” Anthrax vaccine vials were the various naval vessels that had earlier sailed reluctantly for the Persian Gulf on direct political orders. So the British servicemen have found a way to neutralize the second most deadly danger to their lives. Now all they have to do, is to figure out a way to neutralize the most clear and present danger ever to threaten their families and themselves: Prime Minister Tony Blair
SKILLSAW: A portable cutting tool used to make boards too short.
BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, ‘Oh shit’. Will easily wind a tee shirt off your back.
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
CHANNEL LOCKS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
HACK SAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for igniting various flammable objects in your shop and creating a fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.
TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity. Very effective for digit removal!!
HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.
BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut large pieces into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge. Also excels at amputations.
TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of all the crap you forgot to disconnect.
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.
PVC PIPE CUTTER: A tool used to make plastic pipe too short.
HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit. Also very effective at fingernail removal.
UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door. Works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use. These can also be used to initiate a trip to the emergency room so a doctor can sew up the damage.
SON OF A BITCH TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling ‘Son of a bitch’ at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.
