"The GAO "Gulf War Syndrome" Report:

Pesticides & Implications For The General Public"

by Brenda Livingston

Regarding one of the most important issues of our time -- The "Gulf War
Syndrome" -- the GAO recently referenced the wonderful work of Robert
Haley from the Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. An
epidemiologist, Haley conducted one of the most extensive studies of
this syndrome in 1997.

In the 2004 GAO report released June 1, chemicals --specifically
organophosphates -- are found to be the overriding cause of the symptoms
of "Gulf War Syndrome" a devasting disorder affecting untold numbers of
soldiers returning from the first war in Iraq (the cards are still out
on the latest war there).

[excerpted from the GAO report **see reference below]

"....many of the approximately 700,000 veterans of the Persian Gulf
War have experienced undiagnosed illnesses since the war's end in 1991.
Some fear they are suffering from chronic disabling conditions because
of wartime exposures to vaccines, as well as chemical warfare agents,
pesticides, and other hazardous substances with known or suspected
adverse health effects...

...We found some studies that suggest an association between chemical
warfare agent exposure and Gulf War illnesses. Each of these studies has
both strengths and limitations. In one privately funded study of Gulf
War veterans, Haley and colleagues reported an association between a
syndromic case definition of Gulf War illnesses, based upon the ill
veterans symptomatic complaints, with exposure to chemical warfare
agents.

Factor analysis of the data on symptoms was used to derive a case
definition identifying six syndrome factors. Three syndrome factor
variants found to be the most significant were (1) impaired cognition,
(2) confusion-ataxia, and (3) arthro-myo-neuropathy.

...Several published scientific studies of exposure involving Gulf
War suggest an association between low-level exposure to chemical
warfare agents and chronic illnesses..." (What follows this paragraph is
a bibliography of Robert Haley, Tom Kurt and others' studies and
articles).

The GAO report contains criticism of the DoD and the CIA's conclusions
regarding GWS and suggests that plumes of Sarin nerve gas may have
contributed to the troops symptoms.

While the possibility of Gulf War troops low-level exposure to Sarin
nerve toxin (an organophosate) may be crucial to understanding what has
happened to the Gulf War veterans -- a much broader and more devastating
issue implied from the Haley, Kurt, Fleckenstein et al. studies begs
immediate attention.

Both the GAO report and the research by Haley et al. (exerpted below)
indicate that the likely cause of the neurological damage suffered by
certain Gulf War troops was organophosphate poisoning.

Two factors are emphasized in the research as to the cause: (1) those
individuals affected by neurological symptoms (brain damage) show a
genetic deficiency in an enzyme (PON-1/PON-Q) which made them unable to
defend against the effects of organophosphates, and (2) the Haley study
concentrates upon pesticides (insect repellents containing DEET, flea
collars on boots, pesticides sprayed in the air often to control sand
flies) and the synergistic interaction with pyridostigmine bromide (PB)
as the major trigger in the "syndrome" in those studied. (Of course
other organophosphate exposure would add to the effects).

These two factors should set off alarm bells in every community across
the nation. The implications are enormous!

In "Brain Abnormalities in Gulf War Syndrome: Evaluation with 1H MR
Spectroscopy1"
(http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/215/3/807)
Haley et al. reports: "....Not only was the elevated exposure risk to
these potential neurotoxins documented in the symptomatic veterans, but
a biochemical explanation for heightened susceptibility to these
chemicals was demonstrated in the same group of Gulf War veterans (5).
Specifically, the symptomatic veterans had substantially lower blood
levels of paraoxonase-1 (PON1) type Q (PON-Q) arylesterase than did the
control subjects; PON-Q is a genetically controlled isoenzyme that
hydrolyzes organophosphate chemical warfare nerve agents and some
pesticides (5).

While it is critical that our troops and veterans are treated and
protected from future exposures or further exposures to
organophosphates, the Gulf War troops are military volunteers -- a
cross-section of the general population.

This means that very likely a similar percentage of **non-military**
individuals from the general population also have low levels of the
PON-Q enzyme or genetic susceptibility and therefore could also be
suffering the same neurological damage when exposed to even low levels
of organophosphates -- pesticides.

With a general increase in the use of pesticides in the home and
outdoors and the increase of use of vector spraying for mosquitos, those
persons with this disorder may be suffering from serious neurological
damage as a result of continuous low-level exposure to pesticides and be
totally unaware of the factors involved in their symptoms.

This question must be addressed: Is the "Gulf War Syndrome" the same
disease process as what has been euphemistically termed "Environmental
Illness" which includes Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome, and Fibromyalgia?

It has taken over a decade for any recognition of chemical
(organophosphate) exposure as a trigger for these devasting and
life-altering symptoms/disease in our military troops. How long must the
general population have to wait before being informed about their
possible predisposition to this brain-damaging disease?

How long will it take before the absolutely horrendous damage to the
population as a whole (other than this 'syndrome') brought about by the
use of pesticides is publicly acknowledged?

The total effects of this 'scourge' on individual lives and our society
are already devastating...measured in costs of pain, lost incomes,
growing health care costs not to mention military readiness and economic
growth.

Further independent research into the effects of pesticides on human
beings (with and without this genetic disorder)-- from insect repellents
so frequently used on children going out to play... to pesticides
sprayed in homes and schools... to the continual aerial and truck
spraying of insecticides in our air -- must be promoted and funded
immediately if we are to stave off this public catastrophe.

===========

See http://www.rense.com/general39/scourge.htm for further information
on the effects of pesticide vector spraying for West Nile Virus on the
public.

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http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/215/3/807

Robert W. Haley, MD et al., "Brain Abnormalities in Gulf War Syndrome:
Evaluation with 1H MR Spectroscopy1"

===========

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/277/3/231?ijkey=2c3844de2b503634ac151966be0f47fc235fbadc&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

R. W. Haley and T. L. Kurt, "Self-reported exposure to neurotoxic
chemical combinations in the Gulf War. A cross-sectional epidemiologic
study", JAMA Vol. 277 No. 3, January 15, 1997

===========

Robert Haley, MD, Epidemiology Division, Department of Internal
Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas,
75235-8874, USA.

http://www.swmed.edu/home_pages/epidemi/gws/

===========

http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/GAO%2520Rhodes%2520Testimony%2520June%25201,%25202004.pdf

United States General Accounting Office Testimony Before the
Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International
Relations, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives GAO
GULF WAR ILLNESSES

"DOD's Conclusions About U.S. Troops' Exposure Cannot Be Adequately
Supported" Statement of Keith Rhodes, Chief Technologist Center for
Technology and Engineering, Applied Research and Methods