UK Admits "Gulf War Syndrome"       Exists

Document Dated: Sep-13-2002

(source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theissues/article/0,6512,791660,00.html)

Gulf war syndrome

Research published today says Gulf war syndrome is not                 'all in the mind'- as some have argued. Mark Oliver looks                 at this report and the background to it

Friday September 13, 2002

What has happened?
Doctors at the Gulf war illness research unit at Guy's,                King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine in London                        have today published research in the British Medical                Journal which indicates that self-reported ill-health                  among veterans of the conflict cannot be fully                      explained by mental illness.

Campaigners have said this vindicates their belief that               physical problems are not "just in the minds" of                   sufferers.

The five-year-long research involved questioning 12,000           British veterans from the 1990-91 Gulf war and the                     1992-97 Bosnian peace mission and comparing results.

The unit's director, Simon Wessely, said: "The Gulf war           veterans did have slightly raised levels of post-traumatic                  stress disorder and depression, but they were nothing like            sufficient to explain the far greater intensity of their             physical complaints."

Mr Wessely, who declined to call the illness a syndrome            because the physical ailments of the veterans were no           different from other conflicts, said that the number and        intensity of complaints was up to three times higher. "Our
findings show that this is not due to a psychological               disorder,"  he told Reuters.

The research found that only 24% of the Gulf war              veterans  who reported a physical disability also had a       psychiatric disorder - a similar percentage
to the veterans of other conflicts. In non-disabled Gulf                  war veterans the rate of psychiatric disorders fell to 12%.

The first stage of the project, published in January 1999,         showed that Gulf war veterans were up to twice as likely to        report sick than soldiers who had been posted to Bosnia and         three times more likely to do so than those who
had been posted to other areas.

What was the response of veterans' groups to the findings?

The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association             (NGVFA) welcomed the findings, but again called for a public  inquiry, arguing this was imperative as Britain was on the             "eve" of a second Gulf war.

Former paratrooper Shaun Rusling, chairman of the group,            said: "Eleven years after the first Gulf war we are no clearer           to an explanation of what happened to servicemen. Our troops        who will be exposed to the same as we were 11 years ago need to   know that should they be ill or injured that they will get the         best medical care and proper pensions."

What is believed to be causing the illness?

In June, NGVFA gave evidence at a US congressional               subcommittee on national security hearing in                        Westminster saying that tests on veterans have found
traces of depleted and enriched uranium in their                          blood and urine. Depleted uranium was used by the                   Ministry of Defence (MoD) in "tank-busting" missiles
during the Gulf war.

Many of the men affected were involved in clean-up                     operations following Desert Storm in 1991. Illnesses                   among more than 5,000 British veterans have
also been linked to powerful immunisation tablets                         given to soldiers to protect them from chemical                         attack, and the use of corrosive organophosphates
to try to keep down disease. Campaigners for Gulf                 veterans want a public inquiry into the illnesses,
which are sometimes described as Gulf war syndrome,                       or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MoD                       doctors have denied in the past that there is any Gulf
war disease, and no government has acknowledged it                         exists.

What are the symptoms?

There are a total of 57 different ailments which have                   been linked to the syndrome. The most common                      symptoms and illnesses cited as Gulf war syndrome
include severe fatigue, nausea, fevers, muscle and                         joint complaints, memory loss, mood swings                                 including severe aggression, insomnia, swollen glands                         and headaches.

The NGVFA claimed earlier this year that 70% of              servicemen who have died since the 1991 conflict                              killed themselves. The organisation claims these
suicides account for 380 out of a total of 537                              deaths.

A typical scenario, NGVFA says, is that the stress and                   illness leads many sufferers to lose their jobs, their                 relationships deteriorate and they lose their homes and                     then eventually take their own lives.

The MoD says official statistics record just 97 suicides            among Gulf veterans, which is slightly higher than the                     suicide rate in a similar group of soldiers who did not                   fight in the war. The NGVFA says some deaths that
were recorded as accidental were actually suicides.

How many British service people were in the Gulf?

Around 53,000 British soldiers took part in the Desert                 Storm campaign, the international effort to liberate                  Kuwait following the invasion by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

How many veterans have claims against the government                   over the illness? Around 4,000 gulf war veterans have         outstanding claims against the MoD for illnesses they                      believe were caused by their role in the conflict                         according to Tony Flint, a former chairman of the NGVFA.

Have claimants had any success?

The NGVFA's Mr Rusling won a landmark ruling recently                when a war pensions agency tribunal officially recognised               Gulf war syndrome as a disease. But many other veterans               have been turned down for army pensions because the MoD
says there is no such disease.

What evidence was heard at June's hearing?

Statements were made from 14 witnesses including                    Samantha Thompson, the widow of Gulf war veteran                     Nigel Thompson who died of motor neuron disease in
January, and ex-RAF navigator John Nichol, who                          was shot down during the Gulf conflict.

Experts also gave evidence on subjects including multiple      vaccination, nerve gas, exposure to radioactive uranium                  and pesticides - all of which have been identified as                 potential causes of the syndrome.