Sarin Gas: The Toll Mounts for Veterans of first Gulf War by Rachel Ensign

Confidential for Gulf War Veterans at Khamisiyah May 1, 2007Veterans for Common Sense is working with a reporter from a major newspaper on a breaking story about ill Gulf War veterans exposed to chemical warfare agents at Khamisiyah, Iraq in March 1991.The reporter wants to interview veterans experiencing problems obtaining healthcare or disability bernefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Two new medical studies concluded that exposure to sarin in the Gulf War is significantly associated with both brain damage and with loss of functionality among veterans near Khamisiyah in 1991.If you are a ill Gulf War veteran who received a Khamisiyah letter, and if you would like to be interviewed, then please contact Paul Sullivan as soon as possible. You will be required to confirm your honorable Gulf War service with a DD214 as well as confirm your Khamisiyah exposure with a letter sent out by the Department of Defense.—Paul Sullivan, Executive Director contact@veteransforcommonsense.org The Pentagon's wanton destruction of Iraqi chemical weapons at Khamisiyah, Iraq after the first Gulf War had ended continues to threaten the health of many of the GIs who were exposed. On March 10, 1991, Army engineers blew up a huge Iraqi chemical weapons depot, exposing an estimated 101,000 US troops to fallout from sarin and cyclosarin--two deadly chemical agents. When Gulf War veteran advocates first began asking questions about the Kahmisiyah detonations, the military and the CIA initially claimed that no hazardous chemicals were involved and that only a few troops had been exposed to very low levels of toxins. Slowly, the truth came to the surface as veterans recounted health problems they attributed to the chemicals. After a UN weapons inspection team confirmed in 1996 that some of the detonated rockets had contained sarin and cyclosarin, the government finally stopped lying about the debacle. Since then, health studies of Khamisiyah veterans have concluded that a significant proportion of these soldiers have suffered various health effects which can be attributed to sarin exposure--even at very low levels. In March, 2006, Dr. Mohamed Abou Donia, and other Duke researchers published a new study (www.emaxhealth.com/healthrecords.htm) which concludes that lab animals exposed to tiny amounts of sarin suffered widespread damage to genes that control memory, thought, mood, muscle control, and a range of other brain functions According to Dr. Donia, earlier studies have demonstrated, "the severe symptoms that victims of sarin exposure have experienced and we have studied the severe damage sarin (does to) brain cells. Now, we have evidence that implicates the specific genes that are damaged when one is exposed to sarin." Dr. Donia predicted that the study could lead to the development of a blood test for sarin exposure and could help scientifsts to identify potential genes to target for new therapies. He said that the findings underscore the need to handle sarin with extreme care and to only allow its use by professionals wearing protective gear. Sarin was developed during World War II as a nerve agent designed to irreversably inhibit the enzyme acetylicholinesterase. This enzyme's normal function is to stop the signal between a nerve cell and a muscle cell, once it's been transmitted. When the enzyme is inhibited, the nerve signal continues, causing over-stimulation of the exposed cells. This, in turn, initiates the release of additional neurotransmitters that further excite the cells and causes their ultimate degeneration or death. In summing up his study, Dr. Donia concluded; "Previous studies have shown that low doses result in fewer acute symptoms but more of the chronic, persistent deficits, such as muscle weakness and memory deficits. We knew (before) that organophosphates caused irreparable damage to the brain and nervous system--now we know how." An authoritative government official recently disclosed to Citizen Soldier that an internal VA study found that about half of the Khamisiyah veterans (50,000) have already filed disability claims or sought medical care from the VA.