New Gulf War Study Raises Questions

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47883-2002Feb21.html

New Gulf War Study Raises Questions

By Suzanne Gamboa

Associated Press Writer

Thursday, February 21, 2002; 6:29 PM

WASHINGTON -- A new Veterans Administration analysis of death rates among

Gulf War soldiers exposed to deadly gases from an Iraqi chemical weapons

depot has cast doubt on the Pentagon's determination of which soldiers were

exposed, veterans groups say.

The Pentagon has said about 100,000 soldiers were exposed to toxic gases

when the Khamisiyah chemical weapons facility was blown up by U.S. combat

engineers. It steadfastly has said the level of exposure was not hazardous,

but has revised which soldiers were involved.

A group of 34,000 the Pentagon initially thought were exposed were removed

from the exposure list following a new analysis of the vapor cloud and were

replaced with another group the same size.

The study by the Veterans Benefits Administration, obtained Thursday by The

Associated Press, found the death rate among the group that was removed was

nearly 10 times higher than that among the other soldiers.

The study included data on deaths and VA benefits applications but no

commentary on the numbers. It did not differentiate how the veterans died -

some could have been killed in car accidents, by natural causes or from a

service-related illnesses - or whether any deaths or claims were

attributable to exposure to nerve gases.

The analysis did say 3,689 of 42,167 claims processed were for undiagnosed

illnesses.

VA statisticians briefed veterans groups on the report Thursday but offered

no explanations for the disparity in death rates, according to

Eddington, associate director of government relations for Vietnam Veterans

of America.

Eddington said more investigation is needed to determine exactly who was

exposed and whether they could face health problems as a result.

" If there is a benign explanation for this discrepancy, we don't know what

it would be, " said Eddington, whose group also advocates for Gulf War

veterans.

VA spokesman Jim Benson said he had not seen the analysis and had no

immediate comment. Pentagon spokeswoman Barbara Goodno said, " The report is

a VA report and the numbers to us appear to be raw data. For us to draw any

conclusion would be premature. "

For years, the Pentagon discounted claims that mysterious illnesses cited by

Gulf War veterans could be tied to toxic exposures. But last December, a

Pentagon-supported report by the Rand's National Defense Research Institute

raised the possibility some undiagnosed illnesses could be explained by

exposure to low levels of Iraqi nerve gas.

The report called for more research into the long-term health effects of

exposure such as that experienced by American soldiers at Khamisiyah, where

weapons caches were destroyed March 4 and 10, 1991. It was discovered later

that the depot and a nearby pit contained hundreds of weapons filled with

lethal sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gases.

The Pentagon sent letters in 1997 to the troops it believed might have been

exposed to a chemical vapor cloud from the explosion. The letter said the

level of exposure was not high enough to cause health problems.

Three years later, the Pentagon said a revised computer model using new

weather and troop location information showed a different track for the

vapor cloud that took it over other soldiers.

A new round of letters went out. Some 34,418 soldiers were told military

officials no longer believed they were exposed. An additional 65,407 were

told the Pentagon still believed they might have been exposed. And 34,638

others were told officials now believed they might have been exposed.

The VA's analysis found 221 deaths among the group the Pentagon consistently

said might have been exposed, a rate of 3.38 per 1,000. There were 105

deaths, or 3.03 per 1,000, among the group military officials added after

the revised computer model.

But there were 1,011 deaths, or 29.37 per 1,000, among the group that first

was told it might have been exposed, then that it was not.

Dave Autry, spokesman for Disabled American Veterans, said it is important

to find out why groups of mainly young men would have such differing death

rates.

Gustafson, a Gulf War veteran from Washington in the group with the

highest death rate, called the numbers " extremely alarming. "

Gustafson was with the 864th Engineer Battalion in northeast Kuwait when

Khamisiyah was destroyed. He said he has not had any serious health

problems, but has seen friends from his battalion experience problems.

" What's happened is any trust I might have had is gone. It's really eroded

over time, " Gustafson said. " When I got the second letter, it was like,

'Can't they get any of this right?' Now, this just reinforces the

skepticism. "

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On the Net:

Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov

Vietnam Veterans of America: http://www.vva.org/

Disabled American Veterans: http://www.dav.org

© 2002 The Associated Press