Posted on 05/17/2007 9:27:28 AM PDT by presidio9
Scientists have found evidence that the kind of low-level exposure to sarin gas experienced by more than 100,000 U.S. troops in the first Gulf war can cause "lasting brain deficits," The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
While the results are preliminary, scientists working with the U.S. Department of Defense said they found apparent changes in the brain's connective tissue -- known as white matter -- in soldiers exposed to the gas.
The extent of the changes -- less white matter and slightly larger brain cavities -- correspond to the extent of exposure, the Times reported on its Web site. The results are to be published in the June issue of the journal NeuroToxicology, it said.
The report is likely to revive the debate over why so many troops returned from the 1991 Gulf conflict with unexplained physical problems. Many scientists have questioned whether Gulf war-related illnesses have a physiological basis.
Far more research will have to be done before it is known whether those illnesses can be traced to exposure to sarin, the Times reported, and the long-term effects of sarin exposure on the brain are not well understood.
The Times said several lawmakers briefed on the study say the Department of Veterans Affairs is obligated to provide increased neurological care to veterans who may have been exposed to sarin gas.
The article named Sen. Patty Murray (news, bio, voting record), a Washington state Democrat, and Christopher Bond (news, bio, voting record), a Missouri Republican.
Approximately one in seven of the 700,000 troops deployed in the first Gulf war experienced a mysterious set of ailments, with problems including persistent fatigue, chronic headaches, joint pain and nausea, the paper noted in the story to appear in Thursday's print edition.
The Veterans Affairs department says those symptoms persist today for more than 150,000 troops, more than the number of troops exposed to the gases.
In a companion study, researchers tested 140 troops thought to have experienced differing degrees of exposure to the chemical agents to check their fine motor coordination.
Individuals with potentially greater exposure had a deterioration in fine motor skills, performing the tests at a level similar to people 20 years their senior, the Times said.
I believe there were WMD strikes against us during both wars - 1991 and 2003.
Wait... this CAN’T be... After all, Bush LIED about all that just to get us into war and reap HUGE oil profits for his friends! How can this be?!?!
The Tigris is a toxic stew of WMD residue. Maybe all this explains why the Iraqis are having a hard time getting it together. Their brains have been partially fried by Saddam’s chem-toys.
The New York Times is the journal or record, so it gets to have it both ways: There were no WMDs, but Bushco isn’t doing enough to help the victims of those fictional WMDs. Rooters is just along for the ride, as per usual.
(fingers in ears)
“La-la-la-la-la can`t hear you NO WMDS NO WMDS..
la-la-la-la...”
...borrowed from the tried and true:
“La-la-la-la-la can`t hear you IT’S JUST ABOUT SEX..
la-la-la-la...”
...of the late 90’s.
Send Nancy Pelosi over there to investigate. WMD’s ? just can’t be; all Liberal morons swear they were lied to.
So we don’t look foolish to the rest of the world, I have to acknowledge that these WMDs were from the first gulf war; at issue is whether the Iraqis were CONTINUING to possess WMDs.
This is about the FIRST Iraq War (or more accurately, the beginning of the current one - it never really ended, IMO).
WMD? Two words: CHLORINE GAS.
Bush was right...again.
“lasting brain deficits,”
There must be a huge cache of leaking nerve gas canisters buried under the U.S. Capitol.
Looks like it may have been done by our side.
“In March 1991, a few days after the end of the Gulf war, U.S. soldiers exploded two large caches of ammunition and missiles in Khamisiya, Iraq. Some of the missiles contained the dangerous nerve gases sarin and cyclosarin. Based on wind patterns and the size of the plume, the Department of Defense has estimated that more than 100,000 U.S. troops may have been exposed to at least small amounts of the gases.”
The problem that I have with all the Bush-lied crowd is that, Saddam possessed WMDs and used them on his own people, what did he do with them? There were storerooms of chemical suits that were found when we entered Iraq. I don’t for one minute think he just threw them in the garbage heap. I also don’t believe that “every” intelligence agency in the world was “wrong.” That’s too far a strtech of the imagination even for morons like Pelosi, the MSM, and everyone that would rather stick their heads in the sand and wait for the next attack.
Documents discovered after the invasion discussed WMD programs, but there have been no docs found that detail the destruction of many chemical weapons that were inventoried by the UN in the 90s.
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