The FReeper Foxhole - Gulf War Syndrome: Fact vs. Fiction - Dec 9th, 2002

http://www.fumento.com/gwspro.html ^ | Michael Fumento

[SAMWolf]

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FINDS DESERT SHIELD, DESERT STORM VETS HAVE HIGHER RATE OF ALS

According to a news release on December 10, 2001 from the Department of Veterans Affairs, researchers conducting a large epidemiological study supported by both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense have found preliminary evidence that veterans who served in Desert Shield-Desert Storm are nearly twice as likely as their non-deployed counterparts to develop amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

This study, begun in March 2000, involved nearly 700,000 service members deployed to Southwest Asia, and 1.8 million who were not deployed to the Gulf during the period August 2, 1990 to July 31, 1991.

The study found 40 cases of ALS among deployed veterans. Although the researchers found the risk of ALS to be twice as high for deployed veterans, it is a rare disease and the number of affected individuals is small. Scientists would expect to find 33 cases in a similar-sized population over the same time period.

"These findings are of great concern and warrant further study," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "I intend to make certain that VA's medical resources and research capabilities are fully focused on this issue."

Here's a link to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs Study:

Study of ALS Among Gulf War Veterans (CSP#500)

[liberallarry]

The Gulf war offers a truly startling contrast with previous wars. Do you have a preferred explanation?

[Jeff Gordon]

I thought it was a well known fact the GWS was caused by Diet Soft Drinks. When raisded to a temperature of over 180 degrees for sevearl hours, the articifial sweetner turns to a formaldahide like substance. This substance is known to cause most of the GWS symptoms. It is also known that literally milllions of diet soft drinks say for days to weeks in shipping containers where the temperatures reached well over 180 degress.

[SAMWolf]

I don't buy into the "it's all caused by stress" theory, I think there was a good chance that some of the troops there were exposed to chemical of biological agents of some sort.

There was also a lot of controversy about the new drugs used to innoculate the troops so there may be something there also.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for your service g'nad and your input.

I believe there's something we're not being told, the Vitenam Vets went through the same thing with Agent Orange.

[SAMWolf]

The first I heard of that was in an earlier post. (#33)

It seems that this can account for some of the illnesses.

[MistyCA]

Thank for this thread, Sam! I am skeptical of the stories I have read, but I am also very skeptical of the diagnosis of fibromyalgia that seems so frequent now days. I think sometimes when doctors either don't know what causes something or are too busy to run tests, or are shut down by insurance companies who won't allow adequate tests, or are having their diagnosis sought by some who tend to be hypochondriac, the diagnosis of fibromyalgia is thrown out there. That doesn't mean the symptoms are not real...just that people are being bulked into a diagnosis that is pretty meaningless, imo.

I was reading another account of GWS where the person admitted that lung cancer ran in the family and had similar symptoms, yet he vet in this case preferred to think his symptoms were from the war. Of course! The pockets are deeper.

[MistyCA]

What a neat post! Thanks!

[MistyCA]

Thanks for the link,Tonk.

[editor-surveyor]

Do you accept Reason Magazine as an unbiased source?

Do you think that all these GW vets are just malingering?

Don't we get enough of this anti-personnel propaganda from the Govt. without making FreeRepublic a free sounding board for it?

[MistyCA]

Thanks for coming by!

[MistyCA]

Let's hope not.

[MistyCA]

Thanks for your post.

[MistyCA]

I put nothing past "bubba" also! I would hope, however, that your theory is not true.

[SAMWolf]

Do you think that all these GW vets are just malingering? <

NO I don't believe that, the article was posted to allow discussion on this subject.

[MistyCA]

You know, the other thing you have to think about, imo, is the dust storms and microbes that our men and women in the military are exposed to. As well as depression and shell-shock. If you look at the past history of wars and the percentage of people who come back from war with symptoms of one thing or the other, you have to wonder about the psycologically impact of war on people and how it manifests itself, imo.

[MistyCA]

thanks for coming by, and thanks for the bump!

[MistyCA]

Thanks for your post. It's good to see you here!