11/01/02

DAVE PARKS
News staff writer
 

In a stunning about-face, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday a substantial research initiative based on evidence that many ailing veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War may be suffering from brain damage caused by toxic exposures.

The announcement came after a British study discounted stress as a significant cause of mysterious health problems reported by Gulf War veterans and an advisory committee concluded that scientific evidence pointed to neurological damage.

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The VA said it plans to make available up to $20 million during fiscal year 2004 for research into Gulf War illnesses. That's twice as much as the agency has spent during any previous year on the problem, the VA said.

The VA cited studies that used brain-scanning technology to show a neurological basis for health problems reported by some ailing veterans. The initial studies in this area were conducted on a group of sick veterans who served in the Gulf War with a Seabee unit based in Alabama.

In addition to increased funding for research, the VA said it will create a center dedicated to medical imaging technologies to better understand Gulf War illnesses as well as other conditions.

"Science is finally beginning to unravel the mysteries of Gulf War illnesses," VA Deputy Secretary Dr. Leo S. Mackay Jr. said in a prepared statement. "And finally, there is reason for hope."

Mackay announced the initiative at a meeting of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses. VA Secretary Anthony Principi appointed the committee in January. Its members include activists and scientists who have been critical for years of the government's efforts to discount Gulf War health problems as a reaction to stress.

Dr. Robert Haley, a committee member and chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said Thursday's announcement shut the door on the stress theory. "It's dead as a doornail," he said.

Haley said a study in the Sept. 14 issue of the British Medical Journal convinced VA officials. The study of 111 disabled Desert Storm veterans from Great Britain found that Gulf War illness was not a psychiatric disorder connected to stress. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and was conclusive, he said.

Meanwhile, the advisory committee filed an interim report in June indicating that between 25 percent and 30 percent of the 700,000 U.S. veterans who served in the Gulf War are now ill, with many suffering from a multitude of symptoms such as fatigue, aching joints and memory loss.

"It is increasingly evident that at least one important category of illness in Gulf War veterans is neurological in character, according to recent scientific studies," the committee reported. "Magnetic resonance spectroscopy suggests a loss of neurons in selected brain areas in ill veterans, particularly in the basal ganglia and brainstem."

Haley conducted the initial studies in that area on the Seabees from Alabama. The research was started with funding from Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot. Haley said the VA and other researchers have now confirmed that some veterans are suffering from neurological damage.

"The evidence is strong," Haley said.

Haley believes that some veterans were genetically susceptible to injury from toxins such as pesticides mixed with low levels of chemical warfare agents released during destruction of Iraqi munitions.

Haley said the evidence has been growing for recognition of a distinct "Gulf War Syndrome," but he was still impressed with the VA's turnabout on the issue.

``This was an astounding event," he said.

Haley credited the Bush administration for appointing strong leaders at the VA.

Steve Robinson, a committee member and executive director of a leading veterans' advocacy group, the National Gulf War Resource Center, said the committee was amazed by the VA announcement.

"It came as a shock to us," he said. "We were stunned."

He said it's been a long wait for veterans. "Unfortunately, a lot of people have suffered, lost their homes and killed themselves in the waiting," Robinson said.

Warfare changing:

The government is slowly learning that the basic nature of warfare is changing and is beginning to recognize that soldiers can be wounded by methods other than bullets and conventional bombs, he said.

"We need to change to the new paradigm and understand that chemical and biological weapons will be used," he said.

The VA's research will benefit not only veterans but also the general public, given the threat of terrorism, Robinson said.

"This event, unfortunately, may happen here in our hometown one day," he said.