Talk about timely research. Two new studies published in this week's The New England Journal of Medicine (November 14, 1996) may have dealt a severe blow to the "son of Agent Orange."
Over the last couple of weeks there has been a great deal of hub-bub in the media about so-called Gulf War illness -- i.e., veterans. who claim to suffer various adverse health effects from exposure to chemical agents during the Persian Gulf War.
Recent uproar has involved claims of foot dragging and stonewalling by the Department of Defense and leaks of classified information by former CIA employees. Much of this has involved whether or not, and then, how many, Gulf War service men and women were exposed to chemical agents (like nerve gas).
The new studies report
- No excess deaths among Gulf War veterans as compared to other veterans (study funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs); and
- No excess in hospitalizations among Gulf War veterans as compared to other veterans (study funded by the Department of Defense).
Of the 695,516 Americans who served in the Persian Gulf War, 1,765 veterans died in the ensuing 2.4 years. Although Gulf War veterans had a 9 percent higher death rate than other non-Gulf War veterans, the excess deaths were caused by accidents, especially motor vehicle accidents. Compared to the general U.S. population, Gulf War veterans experienced 56 percent less mortality.
The pattern of hospitalizations among Gulf War veterans according to diagnostic category suggests no excess of any particular disease following the Gulf War.
While the mortality study is clearly the stronger of the two studies (there is more certainty in counting bodies than trying to characterize the nature of hospitalizations) the data do show that there was no large increase among Gulf War veterans in "the illnesses that lead doctors to hospitalize people."
Meanwhile, the politics of Gulf War illness have already forced the Department of Defense (1) to compensate any Gulf War veteran with long-term disability due to unexplained symptoms that began during or after the war and (2) to increase its Gulf War illness research staff 1000 percent.
So far, it seems that we taxpayers will be the only ones with long-term adverse effects from Gulf War illness.
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