Fwd: Former soldier wins landmark case over Gulf War Syndrome

November 12, 2005

Subject: [DOEwatch] Former soldier wins landmark case over Gulf War Syndrome

Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 10:51:11 EST

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Former soldier wins landmark case over Gulf War Syndrome

By Geneviève

01 November 2005

A former guardsman suffering from Gulf War Syndrome has won a landmark legal

case against the Ministry of Defence.

, 35, who has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, memory

loss and impaired concentration since the 1991 conflict, will receive a

disability award under the " umbrella term " of Gulf War Syndrome.

He is one of 1,500 soldiers who made a claim for a disablement pension

because of the syndrome, which, for the past 14 years, the MoD has

said does not exist.

A war pensions tribunal in London yesterday ruled " the term Gulf War

Syndrome is the appropriate medical label to be attached " to Mr 's

condition. The ruling will enable the other servicemen to claim their

disablement pensions.

Plumridge, Co-ordinator for the National Gulf Veterans and Families

Association, said: " Hundreds of veterans have applied to have the diagnostic

label of Gulf War Syndrome recognised. While the Ministry of Defence has said

in the House of Commons that they do not recognise the syndrome, the Pensions

Appeal Tribunal has ruled that there is enough evidence to warrant the term. "

Mr Plumridge, an army reservist called up at the age of 50 to serve in the

first Gulf War, has been waiting five years to be granted a disablement

pension from the MoD. " A precedent has now been set, " he said. " I would expect,

at last, the Veterans Agency to accept what everyone else already knows, and

grant pensions to the 1,500 veterans who have claimed them due to Gulf War

Syndrome. "

The veterans claim the syndrome was caused by the many vaccinations they

received before combat, including the Anthrax vaccine, combined with exposure

to depleted uranium and the pesticides used on the servicemen's tents while

serving in the Gulf during the Allied action.

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