Gulf War Chemical Exposure Mortality Figures Alarming

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Gulf War Chemical Exposure Mortality Figures Alarming

U.S. Newswire

21 Feb 18:26

Gulf War Chemical Exposure Mortality Figures Alarming; Vietnam

Veterans of America Calls for Appointment of Independent Counsel

National Desk

Contact: Mokie Porter of Vietnam Veterans of America

301-585-4000 ext. 146

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- More than 34,000 Gulf War

veterans told by Pentagon officials they were not exposed to

chemical agents after Operation Desert Storm are dying at a rate

nearly ten times that of veterans subsequently added to the

Khamisiyah chemical agent exposure model, Vietnam Veterans of

America (VVA) learned today.

In 2000, the Department of Defense (DoD) revised its estimate of

the dispersion pattern of chemical-agent fallout from the

demolition of the Iraqi chemical weapons depot at Khamisiyah in

southern Iraq, which was destroyed by U.S. troops in 1991.

Originally, DoD estimated that 99, 825 veterans had been exposed to

low levels of the nerve agent sarin after the demolition.

In 2000, DoD remodeled the Khamisiyah plume exposure data. The

new model excluded 34,418 veterans who had originally been told

they'd been in the Khamisiyah downwind hazard zone. DoD then added

34,638 other Khamisiyah-area veterans to the new exposure model,

bringing the total number of exposed veterans to 100,045.

In late 2001, the Veterans Benefits Administration's Data

Management Office (DMO) decided to compare mortality figures

between the veterans excluded from the new DoD model and the

veterans who were added in their place. The mortality numbers

released by the VA show that of the 34,418 who were excluded from

DoD's remodeling of the Khamisiyah chemical weapons fallout plume,

1011 have died, compared to only 105 of the 34, 638 veterans who

were added to the revised Khamisiyah plume model in 2000.

" This pattern in entirely consistent with past practices

concerning information relating to toxic exposures in Gulf War

veterans. We will request from Attorney General Ashcroft the

appointment of a special counsel to investigate this and other

matters related to the Pentagon's conduct in dealing with Gulf War

illnesses. "

Corey noted, since 1995, the Pentagon's Directorate for

Deployment Health Support (formerly known as the Office of the

Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses) has spent in excess of

$150 million on Gulf War-related research projects, none of which

have been scientifically peer-reviewed or otherwise subjected to

genuinely independent scrutiny or the standards of legitimate

medical science.

" We cannot have the agency that created the problem studying the

problem, " Corey said. " An independent institute within NIH that is

dedicated to studying the full range of health problems affecting

veterans is the only way to guarantee that we get good science and

therefore good medical treatment for veterans. "

" Our Gulf War veterans deserve better. We will persist with our

efforts to see they get the justice and fair treatment. Corey

reiterated VVA's call for the creation of an independent National

Institute of Veterans Health within NIH to study veteran's medical

problems.

Corey praised the VA's Data Management Office for studying the

problem and publishing the results in a timely manner.

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Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the nation's only

congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated

to the needs of Vietnam-era veterans and their families. VVA's

founding principle is " Never again will one generation of veterans

abandon another. "

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U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

02/21 18:26

Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire