GULF WAR ILLNESS

ARTICLE SUBMITTED by DENISE NICHOLS

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Here is what we have been saying since day one...Gulf War toxic exposures were,have been, and will continue to affect those that served in 1990 to 1991 in the Gulf. We need the world's attention, we have taken back seat to war in Iraq and Afghanistan as did our vietnam veteran brothers and sisters when we went off in 1990-91. We need to all unite and have a rebirth to bring the issues of exposures in war out World Wide. It is wrong to write off illnesses to stress or PTSD when their were hazardous substances that affected our health. We Gulf war veterans have experienced non believers, nay sayers, friendly fire, and divisiveness from inside and outside and this must stop.

We must remember the bigger picture and how what we find and unearth will and has affected others, civilian and soldier alike.

Sincerely,
Denise
DSNurse




http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-07-25-brain-cancer-vets_x.htm

Cancer Linked to Nerve Agent

USA Today | July 26, 2005

For the first time, a study has found an increase in brain-cancer deaths among Gulf War veterans who might have been exposed to the nerve agent Sarin by the destruction of Iraqi weapons in 1991.

About 100,000 of the 350,000 Army soldiers in the Persian Gulf could have been exposed to Sarin after soldiers blew up two large ammunition caches in Khamisiyah, Iraq (<http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=GH_Iraq> , in March 1991, according to a study commissioned by the military and performed by the Institute of Medicine. The institute advises the government on health policy.)

At the time, the military didn't know that the destroyed Iraqi rockets contained Sarin, says Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director for the Deployment Health Support Directorate in the Department of Defense. Soldiers showed no signs of exposure to chemical warfare.

Later, however, United Nations inspectors found that some of the weapons contained Sarin, which can cause convulsions and death. The military has since contacted about 300,000 veterans who were in or near areas that might have been affected. The potential "hazard area," where shifting winds could have carried traces of chemicals, extended at times as far as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

According to the study, soldiers inside the hazard area were about twice as likely as those outside it to die from brain cancer. Because the actual number of brain-cancer cases was small, the overall mortality rate was the same for veterans in the hazard area and outside the area, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Among unexposed soldiers, researchers found a brain-cancer death rate of 12 per 100,000 from 1991 to 2000, says William Page, director of the study. During the same period, researchers found 25 brain-cancer deaths per 100,000 veterans who were exposed.

"It's a doubling of risk, but it's still a pretty small risk," says Page, a
senior program officer at the Institute of Medicine.

The study did not address "Gulf War syndrome," as some have called the collection of ailments experienced by returning veterans. It examined whether soldiers possibly exposed to the destruction of Iraqi weapons were more likely to die for any reason. The study also singled out specific diseases: breathing problems, infections, circulatory problems, digestive ailments, accidents and suicides, as well as four types of cancer.

The study's authors note that Sarin has never been shown to cause cancer. Page suggests that researchers follow veterans to see whether the risk of brain cancer, which is believed to develop over 10 to 20 years, changes over time. Page also notes that the study doesn't prove that being in the hazard area caused brain cancer.

Melissa Bondy, a professor of epidemiology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, questions why only one or two days of exposure would increase brain-cancer mortality. Other experts note that the study could shed light on the causes of brain tumors, about which doctors know little.

"It's a very solid study," says Faith Davis, a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "It needs to be taken seriously."

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Requests for reprints should be sent to Tim Bullman, Department of Veterans
Affairs, Mail Stop 135, Environmental Epidemiology Service, 810 Vermont Ave,
Washington, DC 20420 (e-mail: <mailto:[email protected]>
[email protected] ).

Tim A. Bullman, Clare M. Mahan, Han K. Kang, and William F. Page

Mortality in US Army Gulf War Veterans Exposed to 1991 Khamisiyah Chemical
Munitions Destruction
Am J Public Health 95: 1382-1388.

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Abstract 1 of 1
<http://www.ajph.org/cgi/gca?allch=&SEARCHID=1122384641934_632&FULLTEXT=Nerv
e+Agent&JOURNALCODE=&FIRSTINDEX=0&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&gca=ajph%3B95%2F8%2
F1382#top#top> August 2005, Vol 95, No. 8 | American Journal of Public
Health 1382-1388
C 2005 American Public <http://www.ajph.org/misc/terms.shtml> Health
Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.045799

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RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Mortality in US Army Gulf War Veterans Exposed to 1991 Khamisiyah Chemical Munitions Destruction

Tim A. Bullman, MA, Clare M. Mahan, PhD, Han K. Kang, DrPH and William F. Page, PhD

Tim A. Bullman, Clare M. Mahan, and Han K. Kang are with the Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC. William F. Page is with the Medical Follow-up Agency, Institute of Medicine, Washington, DC.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Tim Bullman, Department of Veterans Affairs, Mail Stop 135, Environmental Epidemiology Service, 810 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20420 (e-mail:
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] ).

Objectives. We investigated whether US Army Gulf War veterans who were potentially exposed to nerve agents during the March 1991 weapons demolitions at Khamisiyah, Iraq, are at increased risk of cause-specific
mortality.

Methods. The cause-specific mortality of 100487 exposed US Army Gulf War veterans was compared with that of 224980 unexposed US Army Gulf War veterans. Exposure was determined with the Department of Defense 2000 plume model. Relative risk estimates were derived from Cox proportional hazards models.

Results. The risks of most disease-related mortality were similar for exposed and unexposed veterans. However, exposed veterans had an increased
risk of brain cancer deaths (relative risk [RR]=1.94; 95% confidence
interval [CI]=1.12, 3.34). The risk of brain cancer death was larger among
those exposed 2 or more days than those exposed 1 day when both were
compared separately to all unexposed veterans (RR=3.26; 95% CI=1.33, 7.96;
RR=1.72; 95% CI=0.95,3.10, respectively).

Conclusions. Exposure to chemical munitions at Khamisiyah may be associated
with an increased risk of brain cancer death. Additional research is
required to confirm this finding