WASHINGTON - A federal panel of medical experts studying illnesses among Persian Gulf War veterans has broken with several earlier studies and concluded that many suffer from neurological damage caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, rejecting past findings that the ailments resulted mostly from wartime stress.
Citing new scientific research on the effects of exposure to low levels of neurotoxins, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illness concludes in its draft report that "substantial proportion of Gulf War veterans are ill with multi-symptom conditions not explained by wartime stress or psychiatric illness."
It says a growing body of research suggests that many veterans' symptoms have a neurological cause and that there is a "probable link" to exposure to neurotoxins. The report says possible sources include sarin nerve gas from an Iraqi weapons depot exploded by U.S. forces in 1991; a drug, pyridostigmine bromide, given to troops to protect against nerve gas; and pesticides used to protect soldiers in the region.
The chairwoman of a presidential advisory group that reported in 1996 there was no casual link between toxic exposure and the veterans' symptoms, Dr. Joyce C. Lashof, said yesterday that she had not seen the report but was open to changing her views if the findings were based on solid new research and not advocacy by veterans' groups.
"We certainly weren't sure that our report was the definite answer. It was based on the best evidence available at the time," said Lashof, professor emerita of public health at the University of California Berkeley.
All the chemicals cited in the new study belong to a group called acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, exposure to which can cause a range of symptoms including pain, fatigue, diarrhea and cognitive impairment, according to the draft report obtained by The New York Times. Committee members said there might be minor changes in the report but that the basic scientific findings would not change.