
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 10, 1994                   TAG: 9409020020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOUSE OKS AID FOR GULF WAR VETERANS

Persian Gulf War veterans suffering from a range of undiagnosed ailments would receive at least temporary government payments under a bill approved by the House.

On a voice vote Monday, lawmakers approved a bill that would award up to six years of compensation to veterans suffering from Persian Gulf syndrome, a variety of symptoms for which doctors have been unable to identify the causes.

Those veterans ``deserve the benefit of the doubt,'' argued Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kan., one of the bill's authors.

The bill also would provide $5 million a year for research on the health problems and $10 million a year for marriage and family counseling.

The bill was sent to the Senate.

Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., held a hearing last week on the Gulf War's impact on veterans' reproductive health.

At the same time, the House endorsed a bill providing a 3 percent cost-of-living increase in disability pay for veterans with service-connected disabilities, and for widows and children of veterans. The bill was sent to the Senate, which has already passed a similar measure.

If no diagnosis of the Gulf veterans' conditions can be made at the end of three years, compensation will automatically be authorized for three more years.

To be eligible, a veteran must be at least 10 percent disabled with symptoms that began before Oct. 1, 1996, or within two years of departure from the Gulf region.

In the three years since the war, veterans have reported fatigue, joint pain, hair loss, sores, and heart, intestinal and respiratory problems. Suspected causes include exposure to fumes of burning oil wells, toxic substances and inoculations using untested vaccines. Doctors have been unable to make a firm diagnosis in many cases.

``What we do know is that many veterans went to the Gulf healthy and came home sick,'' said Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the new benefits will cost the government about $82 million in the year beginning Oct. 1 and $94 million the following year.

by CNB