Post by Taxigirl on Nov 17, 2004 9:33:30 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4018603.stm
Some 6,000 Gulf veterans have suffered from various complaints
An independent inquiry has concluded that Gulf War syndrome probably does exist.
The inquiry called on the Ministry of Defence to accept thousands of veterans suffered ill health as a result of their service in the 1991 conflict.
It said the MoD should establish a special fund to make compensation payments to veterans whose health had been damaged.
The inquiry was headed by the former law lord Lord Lloyd of Berwick.
Its report said all the scientific studies agreed Gulf veterans were twice as likely to suffer from ill health as if they had been deployed elsewhere.
It accepted the illnesses suffered by the veterans were likely to be due to a combination of causes.
These included multiple injections of vaccines, the use of organophosphate pesticides to spray tents, low level exposure to nerve gas, and the inhalation of depleted uranium dust.
Further research was needed to try to pinpoint the causes more precisely, the report said.
However, that was no reason for the MoD not to accept that the illness were the result of service in the Gulf.
Some 6,000 Gulf veterans have suffered from various complaints
An independent inquiry has concluded that Gulf War syndrome probably does exist.
The inquiry called on the Ministry of Defence to accept thousands of veterans suffered ill health as a result of their service in the 1991 conflict.
It said the MoD should establish a special fund to make compensation payments to veterans whose health had been damaged.
The inquiry was headed by the former law lord Lord Lloyd of Berwick.
Its report said all the scientific studies agreed Gulf veterans were twice as likely to suffer from ill health as if they had been deployed elsewhere.
It accepted the illnesses suffered by the veterans were likely to be due to a combination of causes.
These included multiple injections of vaccines, the use of organophosphate pesticides to spray tents, low level exposure to nerve gas, and the inhalation of depleted uranium dust.
Further research was needed to try to pinpoint the causes more precisely, the report said.
However, that was no reason for the MoD not to accept that the illness were the result of service in the Gulf.