Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 2, 1995 TAG: 9508020041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The study turned up instances of back pain, headache, alcoholism, depression and other ailments, but no mystery illness stemming from the desert war.
``We do not find a single or unique illness responsible for a large or even significant proportion ... of illness,'' said Dr. Stephen Joseph, assistant secretary of defense for health. ``Rather, what we find are multiple illnesses with overlapping symptoms and causes.''
The study involved thorough medical examinations of 10,020 veterans and family members who had complained of one or more of a variety of symptoms.
Tuesday's announcement marked the first categorical rejection by the Defense Department of the existence of an unknown malady stemming from the 1990-91 desert war.
Concern about the existence of a disease arose when hundreds of Gulf War veterans complained about a variety of ailments from fatigue and headaches to muscle and skeletal disorders.
There was speculation that Iraq had unleashed chemical or biological weapons. Another theory was that insecticides or inoculations administered by the military carried unexpected side effects or reacted with one another to create adverse symptoms.
Of those veterans and family members who complained of illness, all but 11 percent were diagnosed with some sort of disease or symptom. And Joseph said it was likely that many of the illnesses, particularly stress-related ailments, stemmed from service in the gulf.
But such ailments would have been expected of any returning group of war veterans. The key conclusion, Joseph said, was that the Defense Department researchers found ``not a single mystery illness or unique Gulf War illness but rather a combination of symptoms and illnesses ... that you would particularly expect to find in a population that was exposed to the kinds of stresses that people were exposed to in the Gulf.''
Not everyone agreed: ``The majority of this group has acquired chemical allergies and intolerances,'' said Richard Haines of Gulf Veterans International. The ailments, he said, come from exposure to a variety of toxins in the Persian Gulf including burning oil, an anti-nerve agent pill and pesticides.
Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.