Gulf War Syndrome

Mystery illness suffered by soldiers who fought in the 1991 Gulf War. Symptoms include headaches, memory loss, listlessness, depression, respiratory problems, lethargy, muscle weakness, nausea, and pain. It may be a form of shell shock, or the symptoms could have been caused by a combination of vaccinations (to tropical diseases and diseases likely to be used in biological weapons), nerve gas, anti-nerve gas drugs, and organophosphate (OP) insecticides. In addition, troops were also exposed to Iraqi chemical weapons and smoke from burning oil wells.

US animal research of 1995 showed that the drug pyridostigmine bromide that protects against the effects of nerve gas, and the insecticides DEET (sprayed on skin) and permethrin (used on clothes and bedding), whilst being safe separately, may together cause nerve damage. However, after studying 10,000 troops who served in the Gulf War, the Pentagon stated in 1995 that Gulf War Syndrome did not exist. In November 1997, though, President Bill Clinton appointed an independent panel to oversee Department of Defense research into possible links between the syndrome and the chemical and biological exposure during the Gulf War. In 1999 US researchers discovered evidence of brain damage in the basal ganglia (the area of the brain believed to be particularly vulnerable to OPs) of US naval veterans with severe Gulf War Syndrome symptoms. In comparison with a control group, there was found to be a significant drop in the density of neurones, suggesting brain damage incurred during the war. Research carried out by the Radiological Society of North America suggested in 1999 that Gulf War syndrome can cause a 10-25% loss of brain cells.

In 1999, a US virologist discovered antibodies to squalene in the blood of 95%of sick veterans tested. Squalene is a component of many experimental vaccines, indicating that troops may have reacted to untested vaccines. Only in France, where troops were not vaccinated against anthrax and plague, have there been no cases of Gulf War Syndrome.

The British government admitted in October 1996 that poisoning by OP pesticides may have caused the syndrome that has affected about 1,040 British soldiers and 150,000 Americans, but refused to recognize the existence of one single illness that could be described as Gulf War Syndrome. It was revealed that soldiers had to spray the chemicals without being issued with protective clothing. Ministry of Defence officials, who ordered the use of the pesticides as antimosquito protection, failed to heed a warning by the government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) about OPs. The Ministry of Defence launched two studies (at a cost of £1.3 million) into Gulf War Syndrome in 1996.

Nicholas Soames, who became Britain's armed forces minister in 1994, fought off demands for his resignation in February 1997 over the Ministry of Defence's suppression of information about the illness. He told MPs that there had been serious failings in the Ministry of Defence and that senior military and civilian officers were likely to face disciplinary action. In March he ordered a team of military police investigators to question soldiers and senior civil servants over the cover-up of the use of dangerous pesticides, which had led to his having to make an apology in the House of Commons in 1996 for wrongly informing the House that the pesticides were not used.