Pentagon Slow to Probe Gulf Illnesses, Panel Finds
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon was slow in investigating whether chemical weapons could be causing Persian Gulf War veterans’ health problems, though any nerve gas exposures that might have occurred are unlikely to explain their illnesses, a presidential panel has concluded.
In its final report, the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses generally praises the government’s response to ailing veterans, concludes that their medical treatment has been “excellent†and states that current efforts to research their problems are “appropriate.â€
But the report urges that all possible exposures to poison gas during the war be thoroughly investigated, noting that one of the “principal uncertainties†about veterans’ illnesses concerns the possible long-term effects of exposure to chemical weapons.
President Clinton will receive the report today. He is expected to ask the 12-member committee to oversee efforts to implement more than a dozen recommendations in the report.
A senior White House official said most of the committee’s staff will remain on the job at least through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The committee--composed of veterans, scientists, doctors, nurses and policy experts--will review actions by the departments of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, the official said.
Clinton created the committee to investigate “Gulf War syndrome,†a group of chronic symptoms, including fatigue, muscle and joint pain, memory loss and headaches, afflicting veterans. During 18 meetings around the country starting in August 1995, the panel heard from dozens of veterans, scientists and medical practitioners, as well as from people with unorthodox theories about what might be causing illness in the veterans.
Some veterans and politicians have criticized the Pentagon for not revealing until June that thousands of soldiers may have been exposed to nerve gas in March 1991 when American troops blew up an ammunition dump in Khamisiyah, Iraq, in a cleanup operation after the war.
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