ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996            TAG: 9609090051
SECTION: NATL/INTL                PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON

PANEL: 1,100 TROOPS EXPOSED TO NERVE GAS

Investigators for a presidential advisory panel believe as many as 1,100 U.S. troops were exposed to nerve gas from an Iraqi chemical weapon depot in 1991 - far more than the Defense Department has suggested.

The investigators also criticized as ``superficial'' the Pentagon's investigation of possible American troop exposures to Iraqi chemical agents during the Gulf War, and recommended that the probe be handed over to an outside body.

In response, the Defense Department said the criticism was misplaced.

``We clearly understand that the department's efforts can never fully meet the expectations of those who want an independent, external review,'' said Stephen Joseph, the department's senior health official.

Joseph made his remarks at a meeting Thursday of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, a group created by President Clinton last year to help get to the bottom of reports of mysterious, debilitating illnesses among many Gulf War veterans.

- Associated Press

LENGTH: Short :   30 lines