Gulf War Illness? Real. Also, likely culprits identified
That's what the research is saying:
An extensive federal report released Monday concludes that roughly one in four of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness.Gulf War Illness is this era's Agent Orange: a medical problem whose existence was denied for a long time. (Hard to believe, but it's been 18 years since Operation Desert Shield began.)That illness is a condition now identified as the likely consequence of exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and a drug administered to protect troops against nerve gas.
The 452-page report states that "scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans."
The report, compiled by a panel of scientific experts and veterans serving on the congressionally mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, fails to identify any cure for the malady.
It also notes that few veterans afflicted with Gulf War illness have recovered over time.
So about 175,000 Gulf War veterans were poisoned by their own government, with serious and, likely, permanent consequences.
If we honor military service, we Americans now have a big job on our hands ... and that's just to take care of our own. What might we owe foreign nationals also exposed to the chemicals?
