Gulf War and Health Volume 1: Depleted Uranium, Sarin, Pyridostigmine Bromide, and Vaccines (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Introduction
Introduction
Pages 27-38
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From page 27... ...
The men and women who served in the Persian Gulf region were potentially exposed to a wide range of biological and chemical agents including sand, smoke from oil-well fires, paints, solvents, insecticides, petroleum fuels and their combustion products, organophosphate nerve agents, pyridostigmine bromide (PB) , depleted uranium (DU)
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Subsequent to the VA-IOM contract, two public laws were passed: the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-368) and the Persian Gulf War Veterans Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-2774.
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This work includes clinical research on the effectiveness of potential treatments, improving exposure models, epidemiologic research on the health status of Gulf War veterans, research on the nature of the veterans' illnesses, and studies on the potential adverse health effects of the agents that were likely present in the Gulf War. Complexities in Resolving Gulf War Health Issues Investigations of the health effects of past wars have often focused on narrowly defined hazards or health outcomes, such as infectious diseases (e.g., typhoid, malaria)
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Extensive efforts are under way to model and obtain information on potential exposures to depleted uranium, smoke from oil-well fires, and other agents. Although modeling efforts are important for discerning the details of the exposures of Gulf War veterans, these efforts are not yet complete and will require external review and validation.
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From page 32... ...
Population-based studies have found higher prevalence of selfreported symptoms in Gulf War veterans compared to nondeployed Gulf War era veterans or other control groups (see Chapter 2; Iowa Persian Gulf Study Group, 1997; Goss Gilroy, 1998; Unwin et al., 1999~. All Gulf War veterans do not experience the same array of symptoms, which has complicated ongoing efforts to determine if there is a unique Gulf War syndrome or if there is overlap with other symptom-based disorders.
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troops who fought in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, almost 7 percent were women and about 17 percent were from National Guard and reserve units. Additionally, military personnel were, overall, older than those who had participated in previous wars.
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Therefore, in addition to the standard vaccinations given prior to military deployment, about 150,000 troops received anthrax vaccine and about 8,000 received botulinum toxoid vaccine (see Chapter 7~. Additionally, troops were given blister packs of 21 tablets of pyridostigmine bromide to protect against possible chemical warfare.
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From page 35... ...
In addition to the threat or experience of combat, the Gulf War involved rapid and unexpected deployment, harsh living conditions, continuous anticipation of exposure to chemical and biological agents, environmental pollution from burning oil fires, and family disruption and financial strain. SCOPE OF THE REPORT The committee was charged with conducting a review of the scientific literature on the possible health effects of agents to which Gulf War veterans may have been exposed.
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1995. The impact of infectious diseases on the health of US troops deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
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1998. Consolidation and Combined Analysis of the Databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs Persian Gulf Health Registry and the Department of Defense Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program.
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Study, 50 Other Studies of Veterans' Symptoms and General Health Status, 51 .40 .43 EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES OF SPECIFIC HEALTH ENDPOINTS.... 54 Mortality Studies, 54 Hospitalization Studies, 55 Studies of Birth Defects and Reproductive Outcomes, 56 Studies of Stress-Related Disorders, 57 Studies of Infectious Disease, Gastrointestinal Symptoms, and Testicular Cancer, 59 LIMITATIONS OF PAST STUDIES AND ONGOING STUDIES 60 CONCLUSIONS .
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