Gulf War Studies

Here below are some notes I have jotted down to help you all get started. There is also websites to go visit to get quotes. Please we need action now and it is in your hands!!!

1. All studies were directed toward stress.

2. VA and DOD 99% funded stress studies.

3. Lack of correlation made between animal and human studies. Wording to disregard animal?

4. Majority of studies that were done and published were in response to VA/DOD

5. IOM only allowed to reviewed peer reviewed published research.

6. Garbage in garbage out.

7. Nobel prize person turned down for VA funding

8. Effort led to pressure to remove any VA funding moneys for gulf war research re Sen Hutchinson(2000 Hearing with Ross Perot, etc)

9. Money now going to UTSW MED 15 mil times 5 yrs

10 There fore give Vets benefit of doubt. Therefore extend timelines by lawyer by at least 6-8 yrs!

Encourage others to add to outline. Give Bullet statements

Planning will VFW, PVA, etc be putting out PRs next week? Has anyone heard from them? How about state veteran groups/boards?

I really think this deserve full scale dukeing it out in media to make it an issue.

AS far as I know no hearings scheduled on this unless we get lame duck session which is up in air......UNLESS the issue makes the news in our direction.

Comments from you all? Your plans????? So we can at least coordinate a bit???

Materials to help you in your letters to the editor GO here:

_http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Binns%20Nov%2015%20Testimony.pdf_
(http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Binns%20Nov%2015%20Testimony.pdf)

_http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Shays%20Nov%2015%20Statement.pdf_
(http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Shays%20Nov%2015%20Statement.pdf)

_http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/Minutes_May2006_AppendixB.pdf_
(http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/Minutes_May2006_AppendixB.pdf)

_http://www1.va.gov/RAC-GWVI/page.cfm?pg=64_
(http://www1.va.gov/RAC-GWVI/page.cfm?pg=64)

When VA funders turn down nobel peace scientist you know you are in trouble.

When VA and DOD misguided research funds until just lately...you expect an IOM report like we got

When the money eventually has to be redirected to UTSWmed to get answers for gulf war vets....

When 99% of funding went to looking at Stress

USE this from the legion and get other organizations to help also.

Nice of Legion But on this website will not get much traffic....Did they even put out a Press release? How about all the other organizations???? I just checked VFW,Legion, DVA Websites Nuthin! My thoughts we should be pushin all the major and minor organizations to do a Press Release--PRNEWSWIRE, ETc and write letters to editor and editorials of all newspapers... Any where you can on internet respond to news blogs, comments, etc Also would be nice if all would respond with potential bullet statements that could be used or modified to use as we do this.... Also ALS Society, Cancer Society, MS Society anyone else ? Need US REPS and Senators on Campaigns to speak to this and it isnt too late to get GW presumption period expanded at least 5 yrs and to get ALS and at least Brain Cancer as law as presumptive. WE need some thing positive for Vets in Media and in LAW Thursday, September 14, 2006 :: infoZine Staff :: _page views_
(http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesUserFind/)
Gulf War Syndrome Findings Not Breaking News
(http://www.infozine.com/news/topics/op/topicsView/tid/17/) "Recent media reports that Gulf War Syndrome doesn't exist are misleading and masks the fact that even though ongoing maladies being experienced by Gulf War veterans may not have a scientific name they certainly do exist," said Paul A. Morin, national commander of The American Legion.

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Newswire - infoZine - "The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) recent report on the health of Gulf War veterans is basically a summary of existing peer- reviewed research and the committee's findings. The most contentious, which some media are just now reporting on, is the conclusion that there is no Gulf War Syndrome," Morin said.

"This is not breaking news within the veterans community, but it does warrant more explanation because of the misleading headlines."

The committee indicated that available research, collectively, indicated there is no cluster of illnesses that could be attributed to a single source and that there were no illnesses unique to those who were deployed to the Persian Gulf during U.S. operations there in the early 1990s.

The same research again stated that Gulf War veterans are sicker than other non-deployed veterans and the IOM committee could not determine a reason for it, and that unexplained illnesses are the most prevalent health outcome of service in the Gulf War.

The report also recommended that the Department of Veterans Affairs provide surveillance for specific adverse health outcomes, such as cancer, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, birth defects, adverse pregnancy outcomes, post-deployment psychiatric illnesses.

Although this report does not provide any new recommendations that are beneficial to 1991 Gulf War veterans, it is the second report congressionally mandated to provide recommendations to the Secretary of the VA on the health of Gulf War veterans to indicate that they are sicker than their non-deployed counterparts.

"What is important, and has been well documented, is that Gulf War veterans are sicker, even if no one can conclusively declare why this is so," said Morin "The American Legion's priority on this issue is to make sure additional funding and effective treatments are made available to help alleviate any suffering service member's symptoms," he said.

The Legion also reinforced the call for benefits to be awarded for illnesses that are found to be related to military service in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

VA has recently dedicated up to $15 million to identify effective treatments for ill Gulf War veterans. The American Legion again will request that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs address the ailments that the IOM have associated with symptoms identified in the report.

"If existing research has not been able to provide the VA with adequate knowledge to effectively treat ill Gulf War veterans, then the VA needs to ensure that finding effective treatments is made a top priority," said Morin

Source: American Legion

Need to consider this weekend writing letter to editors to major newspapers! We need to include org legion like below. We need to do this so vets out there and others get a balanced view from what was initially put out.

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Thursday, September 14, 2006 :: _infoZine Staff_
(ZZZjavascript:OpenWindow('/news/users/op/usersViewNW/uid/2','OpenWindow','600','330')) :: _page views_
(http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesUserFind/)
Gulf War Syndrome Findings Not Breaking News
(http://www.infozine.com/news/topics/op/topicsView/tid/17/) "Recent media reports that Gulf War Syndrome doesn't exist are misleading and masks the fact that even though ongoing maladies being experienced by Gulf War veterans may
not have a scientific name they certainly do exist," said Paul A. Morin, national commander of The American Legion.

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Newswire - infoZine - "The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) recent report on the health of Gulf War veterans is basically a summary of existing peer- reviewed research and the committee's findings. The most contentious, which some media are just now reporting on, is the conclusion that there is no Gulf War Syndrome," Morin said.

"This is not breaking news within the veterans community, but it does warrant more explanation because of the misleading headlines."

The committee indicated that available research, collectively, indicated there is no cluster of illnesses that could be attributed to a single source and that there were no illnesses unique to those who were deployed to the Persian Gulf during U.S. operations there in the early 1990s.

The same research again stated that Gulf War veterans are sicker than other non-deployed veterans and the IOM committee could not determine a reason for it, and that unexplained illnesses are the most prevalent health outcome of service in the Gulf War.

The report also recommended that the Department of Veterans Affairs provide surveillance for specific adverse health outcomes, such as cancer, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, birth defects, adverse pregnancy outcomes, post-deployment psychiatric illnesses.

Although this report does not provide any new recommendations that are beneficial to 1991 Gulf War veterans, it is the second report congressionally mandated to provide recommendations to the Secretary of the VA on the health of Gulf War veterans to indicate that they are sicker than their non-deployed counterparts.

"What is important, and has been well documented, is that Gulf War veterans are sicker, even if no one can conclusively declare why this is so," said Morin "The American Legion's priority on this issue is to make sure additional funding and effective treatments are made available to help alleviate any suffering service member's symptoms," he said.

The Legion also reinforced the call for benefits to be awarded for illnesses that are found to be related to military service in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

VA has recently dedicated up to $15 million to identify effective treatments for ill Gulf War veterans. The American Legion again will request that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs address the ailments that the IOM have
associated with symptoms identified in the report.

"If existing research has not been able to provide the VA with adequate knowledge to effectively treat ill Gulf War veterans, then the VA needs to ensure that finding effective treatments is made a top priority," said Morin.

: _J Neurol Sci._ (ZZZjavascript:AL_get(this, 'jour', 'J Neurol Sci.');) 2006
Jul 13; [Epub ahead of print]
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/utils/fref.fcgi?itool=AbstractPlus-def&PrId=3048&uid=16844142&db=pubmed&url=http://linkingh
ub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022-510X(06)00290-5) _Links_
(ZZZjavascript:PopUpMenu2_Set(Menu16844142);)
Can low level exposure to ochratoxin-A cause parkinsonism?
* _Sava V_
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_AbstractPlus&term="Sava+V"[Author]) ,
* _Reunova O_
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_AbstractPlus&term="Reunova+O"[Author]) ,
* _Velasquez A_
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_AbstractPlus&term="Velasquez+A"[Author]) ,
* _Sanchez-Ramos J_
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_AbstractPlus&term="Sanchez-Ramos+J"[Author]) .
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA; James Haley VA Hospital, Tampa,
FL, USA.

Mycotoxins are fungal metabolites with pharmacological activities that have been utilized in the production of antibiotics, growth promoters, and other classes of drugs. Some mycotoxins have been developed as biological and chemical warfare agents. Bombs and ballistic missiles loaded with aflatoxin were stockpiled and may have been deployed by Iraq during the first Gulf War. In light of the excess incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in veterans from Operation Desert Storm, the potential for delayed neurotoxic effects of low doses of mycotoxins should not be overlooked. Ochratoxin-A (OTA) is a common mycotoxin with complex mechanisms of action, similar to that of the aflatoxins. Acute administration of OTA at non-lethal doses (10% of the LD(50)) have been shown to increase oxidative DNA damage in brain up to 72 h, with peak effects noted at 24 h in midbrain (MB), caudate/putamen (CP) and hippocampus (HP). Levels of dopamine (DA) and its metabolites in the striatum (e.g., CP) were shown to be decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The present study focused on the effects of chronic low dose OTA exposure on regional brain oxidative stress and striatal DA metabolism. Continuous administration of low doses of OTA with implanted subcutaneous Alzet minipumps caused a small but significant decrease in striatal DA levels and an upregulation of anti-oxidative systems and DNA repair. It is possible that low dose exposure to OTA will result in an earlier onset of parkinsonism when normal age-dependent decline in striatal DA levels are superimposed on the mycotoxin-induced lesion. PMID: 16844142 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]You hopefully looked at cancer data I got handed that I presented in May was on that link. I stayed in May for a week after RAC and took data to the hill....ask for them to initiate the GAO to follow up on last cancer report they did in 96. Senate and HOuse contacts but they are not moving on it despite my follow ups etc. Shays will not have the annual hearing as it stands now until after election....wonder if they will come back as lame duck session no one seems to know. WE also need GAO to track down MS and parkinsons.

We need to go for presumptions re Brain Cancer, ALS in law!
WE need to include MS, parkinsons, testicular cancer, thyroid, acute and chronic leukemia.