Study: Sarin at root of Gulf War syndrome

[CommunityEditor]

Blame it on Sarin gas ... from the article --

As benefits administrators, officials and politicians argue the worthiness of studies on Gulf War syndrome, researchers say they have no doubts that they’ve found the root of the problem.

Sarin gas.

And they have advice for as many as 300,000 troops exposed to small doses of sarin in 1991: Don’t use bug spray, don’t smoke and don’t drink alcohol.

“Don’t do anything that would aggravate a normal, healthy body,” said Mohamed Abou-Donia, a neurobiology scientist at Duke University who conducted two studies for the Army.

Research released in early May showed that 13 soldiers exposed to small amounts of sarin gas in the 1991 Gulf War had 5 percent less white brain matter — connective tissue — than soldiers who had not been exposed. A complementary report showed that 140 soldiers who were exposed had the fine motor skills of someone 20 years older — what researchers called a “direct correlation” to exposure.

Of the 700,000 service members who served in Desert Storm, 100,000 have reported mysterious symptoms. Until recently, each study commissioned by the VA and Pentagon concluded the problems were caused by stress and had no physical cause.

Nichols, like the other veterans, has heart palpitations, a cough, nose bleeds, joint aches, spine pain, twitching in her legs and leg pain. She also reacts to strong chemical smells with coughing so heavy she can’t breathe, she said.

The issue surged to the fore in a Senate hearing Wednesday as Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., asked if the VA would send out letters to veterans who may have been affected, as they did to 100,000 troops at higher risk of brain cancer because of sarin exposure.

She called the study’s findings “overwhelming,” but noted that the VA’s response, once again, was merely: “We’re going to study this.

“We started out by denying there was any problem,” he said. “It shows that many soldiers may have suffered brain damage.”

The debate over this issue goes back 16 years to when U.S. forces blew up the chemical munitions dump in Khamsiyah and released a plume of sarin gas to which thousands of U.S. troops were exposed — something the Pentagon denied until 1997.

As more research was done, and as veterans systematically sought details through the Freedom of Information Act, scientists showed Desert Storm vets exposed to sarin were at higher risk for brain cancer. And the veterans eventually showed the Pentagon knew that as many as 300,000 service members had breathed in small doses of the toxic fumes.

To date, he said, no one has contradicted that research. As such, Sullivan said he thinks every Gulf War veteran should automatically be presumed to have been exposed to sarin.

In 1999, working on behalf of the Rand Corp., Beatrice Golomb, professor of internal medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, reviewed every study she could find on the issue. She said it was the first time anyone had pulled all that research together.

Golomb said she found a link between symptoms of Gulf War veterans and their exposure to sarin, pyridostigmine bromide (PB) and bug repellent, all of which overstimulate muscles by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, a chemical that signals muscles to stop moving. The tongue, being a big muscle, eventually cuts off a person’s ability to breathe if it is overstimulated.

In the case of the bug repellent, the ill effects are aimed at the bug, not the person wearing the repellent.

In large enough amounts, PB is harmful, but in small doses it acts to prevent nerve agents from overstimulating muscles, and the effects of PB itself are temporary and reversible.

Exposure to sarin alone would be problematic enough. But for Gulf War veterans, exposure to sarin as well as PB and/or bug repellent may have been what ushered in Gulf War syndrome.

Abou-Donia’s research showed the combination of nerve agents, PB, bug spray and stress could cause any of those chemicals — as well as any lurking viruses — to cross the blood-brain barrier, causing other problems. He said he has no doubt there are other long-term effects of low doses of sarin on other body systems, citing chronic fatigue, muscle weakness and fibromyalgia as symptoms.

PB slows the effects of nerve agents, giving troops more time to self-administer antidotes. Research has shown PB offers troops a better chance of survival against the nerve agent soman, rather than sarin, because soman works much quicker than sarin.

Golomb’s research showed that just before the Gulf War, the U.S. government knew Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had sarin in his arsenal, but had no evidence he possessed soman.

To Abou-Donia, the connection became clear after terrorists hit a Tokyo subway with sarin in 1995. Hospital workers who were never in the subway but who worked with sickened passengers came down with the same symptoms reported by Gulf War vets.

“At last they can have peace of mind because they know what it was, most likely,” he said.

But, he said, there isn’t much that can be done now — although he cautioned Gulf War vets not to use insecticide.

“It’s kind of too late to do much of anything,” he said. “But the body has many redundant systems. Usually, if the damage is small, other neurons will take over. As time goes by, people will adapt.”


Full article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...lfwar_070525w/
List of exposed troops: http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/forces_in_hazard_00.htm


Why did it take so long do you think? Is it really a case of "not much can be done now"? What's your take on this study and it's findings?

[The Universal Curmudgeon_guest]

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

Why did it take so long do you think?

Ummm? Because the government of the United States of America might have to come up with some money to pay for the medical problems arising if it is proven that the medical problems were attributable to military service?

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

Is it really a case of "not much can be done now"?

Oh heck no. One hell of a lot can be done. Why there are "studies" and "investigations" and "committies" and "congressional inquiries" and "law suits" and "appeals" and a myriad of other things that can be done. Why heck, if they are properly co-ordinated the final resolution might be deferred until 2071 - at which point the remaining sufferers will receive a lifetime 100% disability pension (at their 2001 pay rate).

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

What's your take on this study and it's findings?

Blame Clinton?

[soldiermedic]

One word: Squalene.