Poison DUst: Depleted Uranium Kills

US soldiers are returning from Iraq to die of "mysterious" ailments - and the depleted uranium (DU) poisoning scandal just won't go away, despite efforts to cover it up. Protesters in New Haven spoke out last week against the U.S. military's use of DU, its effects on US troops, and cutbacks in veterans' medical benefits. The DU test costs $1,000, so the U.S. government won't test for DU poisoning. "More than 240,000 Gulf War veterans are on permanent medical disability and more than 11,000 are dead. They have been denied testing, medical care, and compensation for depleted uranium exposure and related illnesses since 1991," say reports. A U.S. government study found that 67% of post-Gulf War babies have serious birth defects or serious illnesses. In Italy, eight soldiers home from Iraq died of cancer, probably caused by DU exposure. Today, Italy proposed new legislation to censor media covering the military. The new law would bar any reporting on the health effects of depleted uranium. Anyone who breaks the law could face up to 20 years in a military prison, including civilians.





What is depleted uranium (DU)?

DU refers to that portion of uranium left over after the enrichment process that makes natural metallic uranium suitable for nuclear uses. ...Because of its high density, DU is used in armor-penetrating munitions. DU munitions were used extensively by United States forces in both the first and current Iraq wars, putting soldiers and civilians at risk of exposure.

DU is both radioactive and toxic to the human body. Exposure to DU can cause a host of ailments associated with the kidneys, lungs and immune system. An increased risk of lung tissue damage and lung cancer has been documented among uranium miners.

The film features soldiers whose health has been affected by DU exposure, along with the wives of military personnel discussing genetic disabilities faced by their children as a result of a parent's exposure to DU. An increased risk of miscarriages, maternal mortality and congenital disabilities is associated with DU contamination.

It's a weapon of mass destruction.


Poison DUst: A documentary about Depleted Uranium (DU) and Iraq war veterans

How does the military use DU?

Most American weapons (missiles, smart bombs, dumb bombs, bullets, tank shells, cruise missiles, etc.) contain high amounts of radioactive uranium. Depleted or non-depleted, these types of weapons, on detonation, release a radioactive dust which, when inhaled, goes into the body and stays there. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Basically, it’s a permanently available contaminant, distributed in the environment, where dust storms or any water nearby can disperse it. Once ingested, it releases subatomic particles that slice through DNA.

High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians

If DU is "depleted," how can it be dangerous?

"Fiction: DU is "depleted"in the amount of U235 and is therefore less radioactive than the uranium in our natural environment.

Fact: The term "Depleted uranium is a misnomer. DU is "depleted" only in the isotopes U234 and U235 which constitute less that 1% of the total uranium.

The fact is that both "depleted" uranium and "natural" Uranium are over 99% composed of Uranium 238. Depleted uranium is almost as highly concentrated as pure uranium and may contain plutonium in trace amounts."

Facts and Fictions

....

Swiss researchers found traces of uranium 236, which comes from nuclear fuel and nuclear waste, in samples of American-made depleted uranium found in Kosovo, raising concerns that the weapons debris might contain contaminants that are even more dangerous, such as plutonium and americium.

Harpers Weekly Review

Do US soldiers get DU poisoning from our weapons?

Conducted at the request of The News, as the U.S. government considers the cost of $1,000 per affected soldier prohibitive,

...the test found that four of the nine men were contaminated with high levels of DU, likely caused by inhaling dust from depleted uranium shells fired by U.S. troops. Several of the men had traces of another uranium isotope, U-236, that are produced only in a nuclear reaction process.

High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians

........

"The mysterious death of a third soldier with North Carolina ties is raising questions. All three died from flu-like symptoms after returning from overseas deployments, according to a report by affiliate station WRAL.

According to a preliminary autopsy report, Garton's liver and spleen were swollen. His wife said doctors told her he died from infection. ...It is the third recent example of soldiers dying after exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Capt. Gilbert Munoz was a special forces soldier at Fort Bragg who was deployed to the Middle East. After he got back, he died from a bacterial infection. ...Sgt. Christopher Rogers was a reservist from Raleigh. He went to Afghanistan. After he came home, his temperature hit 109 degrees. His widow, Windy Rogers, wonders whether he had what Munoz had. ...Whatever it was, it shut all of his organs down -- shut them all down -- and I want to know what happened," she said.

...while Garton was in Iraq, he treated someone exposed to depleted uranium. Garton's father wonders if that had something to do with his death.

"He went through 16 months of hell and he came back and they didn't do nothing for him," he said.

...At this point, it does not appear that anyone is investigating the deaths or trying to determine if there is a common cause."


Third Soldier Dies After Exhibiting Flu-Like Symptoms

What does DU poisoning do to children?

Leuren Moret reports, "In my research on depleted uranium during the past 5 years, the most disturbing information concerns the impact on the unborn children and future generations for both soldiers serving in the depleted uranium wars, and for the civilians who must live in the permanently radioactive contaminated regions.

...Today, more than 240,000 Gulf War veterans are on permanent medical disability and more than 11,000 are dead. They have been denied testing, medical care, and compensation for depleted uranium exposure and related illnesses since 1991."

Moret continues "Even worse, they brought it home in their bodies. In some families, the children born before the Gulf War are the only healthy members. Wives and female partners of Gulf War veterans have reported a condition known as burning semen syndrome, and are now internally contaminated from depleted uranium carried in the semen of exposed veterans. Many are reporting reproductive illnesses such as endometriosis.

...In a U.S. government study, conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs on post-Gulf War babies, 67% were found to have serious birth defects or serious illnesses. They were born without eyes (anophthalmos), ears, had missing organs, missing legs and arms, fused fingers, thyroid or other organ malformations."

High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians

Do innocent civilians and children get DU poisoning?

In 2003 scientists from the Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC) studied urine samples of Afghan civilians and found that 100% of the samples taken had levels of non-depleted uranium (NDU) 400% to 2000% higher than normal levels. ...The civilians were tested four months after the attacks in Afghanistan by the United States and its allies.

High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians

......

"At a meeting of the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan held December 2003 in Tokyo, the U.S. was indicted for multiple war crimes in Afghanistan, among them the use of DU. Leuren Moret, President of Scientists for Indigenous People and Environmental Commissioner for the City of Berkeley, testified that because radioactive contaminants from uranium weapons travel through air, water, and food sources, the effects of U.S. deployment in Afghanistan will be felt in Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China and India. Countries affected by the use of uranium weapons in Iraq include Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, and Iran."

High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians

Why cover up the dangers of depleted uranium and DU poisoning?


Liability.




Also see:

How Bushco Supports War Vets

Cancer Linked to Gulf War

Wounded Soldiers Forced to Pay for Hospital Meals

46% of U.S. Personal Bankruptcies Sparked by Medical Bills

Critics Unite to Pan Bush Budget

Current Issues - Depleted Uranium Weapons in Afghanistan



***My thanks to Gools for bringing this to my attention, and for making a submission on the topic to ATSNN.


.

Related News Links:
www.uruknet.info
www.nydailynews.com
www.life.com
www.savewarchildren.org

[edit on 1-3-2005 by soficrow]

[edit on 1-3-2005 by soficrow]

[edit on 1-3-2005 by soficrow]

[edit on 3-3-2006 by Thomas Crowne]


[edit on 5-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

"You have voted soficrow for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month."

I'm speechless - great research, great article - how long will we stand for this war-mongering from those "others" in power. They do not get enough stimulation from killing foreigners, they need to kill their own as well.

WAKE UP, we have an enemy within, an enemy that does not want peace, does not want happiness. This is an enemy that feeds of the energies of fear, anger and hate. This enemy is not human.

_Smokinjoe

Originally posted by smokinjoe
"You have voted soficrow for the Way Above Top Secret award."

Thanks smokinjoe.

This enemy is not human.

_Smokinjoe

True. I'm still waiting on the DNA analysis report but so far, it looks like a corporate entity.


.

[edit on 1-3-2005 by soficrow]

WAKE UP, we have an enemy within, an enemy that does not want peace, does not want happiness. This is an enemy that feeds of the energies of fear, anger and hate. This enemy is not human.

_Smokinjoe

So who are these entities/enemies you are referring to? Don't get me wrong IMHO I totally agree with you, but I was wondering whom you thought is responsible for all this war mongering through out the world?

Originally posted by Illuminated_1

I was wondering whom you thought is responsible

Hmmm. Maybe it's the manufacturers of DU weapons? Do you think we should start there looking for an explanation?

...Like maybe they want to keep make money off the weapons, so they keep making wars happen so we'll keep buyin' em and shootin'em?


.

The throw away Solider

Depleted Uranium it’s a killer of an ammunition, to bad it’s also killing the men and women who handle and use this toxic substance. People, half a million US troops are sick and dieing from the exposure to this substance


Depleted Uranium 30mm shell


Listen to an interview by Joyce and Dave Von Kleist talking with Mark Neusche, the father of the Gulf War II vet who died of the "mystery illness" and Marsha Paxson, writer for the Lake Sun Leader newspaper who broke the story.
Click here -->

What happened to the test tube paradigm?


These members of the 369th transportation battalion from New York City fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. They walked into the "test tube" - they were the "experiment" - that tested the effects, including the genetic effects, of the 300 tons of uranium used by the U.S. military on that battlefield. Now half a million of them are sick, and many of their babies have birth defects. Far more uranium is being used in Iraq.
Link

GULF WAR SYNDROME-TIP OF THE ICEBERG

How the Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU Weapons

DEPLETED URANIUM EDUCATION PROJECT

What is depleted uranium?

CADU,Campaign Against Depleted Uranium

Silver Bullet: Depleted Uranium

American Gulf War Veterans Association




[edit on 1/3/2005 by Sauron]

The wikipedia article on depleted uranium is excellent, and is itself quite an eye-opener. The wide range of civillian uses is surprising.

Basically, our government has "solved" a toxic waste problem by branding it as an inexpensive miracle industrial material, and encouraging it's use. Instead of proper disposal, it's being dispersed throughout the environment. These idiots are poisoning themselves and everybody else.

If you see any terrorists hanging around yacht-yards, poking at keels, you'll know what they are doing...

en.wikipedia.org...

My feelings towards the situation are in kind...

it does bring up some interesting questions besides the ones asked...

What would we think of a country that came to "free" us and instead used our streets and bodies as repositories for nuclear waste...

that is basically what we are doing to any country that we "help"
they get to store our nuke waste in their bodies for the next million+ years...

it looks like a poorly devised plan to get rid of nuclear waste... and get paid for it in the process... much better than having to store it for millions of years... ?

It is simply amazing that our entire military hasn't walked off the job.... total respect to them for sticking with it, but i wouldn't hold it agains't them if they quit en masse... they deserve to, and we deserve to be abandoned for not standing up for them more...

6 of 10 babies born from gulf war soldiers have birth defects?
that would do it for me right there...

to look at my child who will never have a normal life, just becasue the country i fought for jerked me over.... and abandoned me and my family...

I wouldn't care if they locked me up, because the couldn't lock us all up... and with those stats... it would be no time before half our soldiers walked out...

to any soldier in America... we will try to stand up for you, and we will back you in whatever YOU choose to do... I know what i would do....

Our present administration needs to get on this ball with both hands... and take care of "business" and get rid of the money men, who make DU look like a good option... and tke care of the soldiers that do the dieing for them...

no more dirty nukeing other countries... (or our own)

Originally posted by Illuminated_1
So who are these entities/enemies you are referring to? Don't get me wrong IMHO I totally agree with you, but I was wondering whom you thought is responsible for all this war mongering through out the world?

I don't know, but I am sure as hell sure that it is not just money, greed and power that fuels this evil. I once heard somewhere that there is a race of ebe's from another dimension that actually feed of strong negative emotions and feelings of beings - I think I remember something about the sailers involved in the philidelphia experiment coming into contact with them...

At the time I though what a crock of S**t, but as time goes by I find myself almost beleiving something like this could be possible. In any event, I still wouldn't class those who would knowingly commit such a crime as human, I would call them Alien, Aliens that are hostile to humankind, our enimies - just as much, if not more enemies to us than the terrorists.

In fact I insight any who reads this to use what ever means they feel necessary to combat these enimies of humankind - they have committed crimes above and beyond terrorism; therefore terrorism is a justified means to an end in bringing about their demise.

-Smokinjoe

what company provides the DU armament to the military?
what company provides the DU to them?
have they had problems with employees suffering the same problems?
are these even made in america?


the facts have been known for awhile...
it isn't like smoking cigerettes, where the company can claim they didn't know how bad they were...

I say the soldiers need to hit this head on... can't sue the military, but they can sue the company that made the DU arms... (maybe)

if this is a "big" business company, then they make everything from zippers to apples, so a boycott might be very effective...

sofi, any idea on the answers to the above questions?
(i only have time to ask, not answer)

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
what company provides the DU armament to the military?
what company provides the DU to them?
have they had problems with employees suffering the same problems?
are these even made in america?

sofi, any idea on the answers to the above questions?
(i only have time to ask, not answer)

Aside from all the usual suspects - no concrete info right now. Plus, I'm having electrical work done and am about to lose my power and computer for several hours...

marg? paging marg? (She's a research demon.)


.

So far I have been able to find only one company ATK, and they don't mention to much about DU. It seem the US government practically gives DU to the arms makers

Alliant Techsystems the largest maker of depleted uranium projectiles in the world.

Patent Application Lockheed Martin Corporation




Scramfire made with DU. Scramfire made by ATK


Ammunition for todays Army Video

Depleted Uranium The Stone Unturned

U.S. Stocking Uranium-Rich Bombs?

Depleted Uranium Weapons


[edit on 1/3/2005 by Sauron]

I came across another company called COLONIE SITE (Aliases: Colonie Intrim Storage Site and Formerly National Lead Industries)
Albany, Albany County, New York

National Lead Industries was closed down because they where caught releasing Depleted Uranium into the air but the people who lived around the plant suffer the same symptoms as GW1 and GW2 vets


Roundtable Segment on Depleted Uranium 1/6/05

ALBANY, NY (2005-01-10) Susan Arbetter and Alan Chartock interview Professor John Arnason, investigative journalist David Rose, and local activist Sharon Herr about Depleted Uranium and the National Lead Plant
in Colonie, New York. An essay on D.U. by Joan Walker follows.
Click to listen---> Windows Media player



For further reference: (US government - pdf files)

April 29, 2004 Memorandum for Commanders MEDCOM major subordinate Commands on “Medical Management of Army Personnel Exposed to Depleted Uranium (DU).

Army Regulation 700-48 – Logistics – Management of Equipment Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities; and Department of the Army, Pamphlet 700-48 - Handling Procedures for Equipment Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities

U.S. Army Technical \ Bulletin- TB 9-1300-278 "Guidelines For Safe Response To Handling, Storage, And Transportation Accidents Involving Army Tank Munitions Or Armor Which Contain Depleted Uranium" (Headquarters, Department Of The Army, Washington, D.C., JULY 1996).





[edit on 1/3/2005 by Sauron]

Good stuff sauron! wow.


ATS has covered DU before - and I apologise for leaving links out earlier. I was in a hurry to finish before my power shut down.

Here are some good ATS links about depleted uranoium.

Depleted uranium

Originally posted by kegs
...The use of depleted uranium and its affects is one of the most covered up aspects of modern western warfare, never mind

any one war.

Iraqi doctors were (and still are) constantly ignored when they complained of soaring cancer rates (as were doctors in Bosnia

after its use there) and physical maladys after the first gulf war.

There has been (contrary to public opinion) a successful case by a soldier against the government for the damage depleted

uranium did to him and subsequently his children.

Imagine the damage to the people that actually live where this stuff is left to rot.

Kenny Duncan, from Clackmananshire, Scotland, yesterday became the first British Gulf War Veteran to win his case for

Depleted Uranium Poisoning from Gulf War 1991.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

news.scotsman.com...

Kenny served with the Royal Corps of Transport, as a specialist tank transporter. One of his jobs was to move Iraqi tanks hit

and destroyed by Depleted Uranium. Doing this job caused his exposure by inhalation of Depleted Uranium dust from the

burnt-out tanks hit by DU. All 3 of Kenny and his wife Mandy's children have physical health problems, since having been

born post Gulf War.

Kenny won his case at the Pensions Appeal Tribunal Service at Scotland.

Americans Dieing From American Weapons

Originally posted by ADVISOR
Found a really good source of info on DU, it doesn't cover a whole lotof the effects it may have, but goes into it some.

1. Proliferation of DU Weapons
Several countries including the United States, Britain, and France have DU fortified weapons in their arsenals. Additionally,

"Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Pentagon has already sold the radioactive

ammunition to Thailand, Taiwan, Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Korea, Turkey, Kuwait and other countries which the

Pentagon will not disclose for national security reasons. (NATION2)".

Here are some great sites for the health hazards of DU, some really resourceful links.
Issues on the Use and Effects of Depleted Uranium

Weapons

Depleted Uranium weapons and Gulf War Syndrome

[edit on 19-2-2005 by kegs]

Energy Directed Weapons

www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

system mentioned here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

There is a great ATSNN Exclusive article on directed energy weapons that is well worth reading:
www.abovetopsecret.com...


.

[edit on 1-3-2005 by soficrow]

Sauron, you are being quite the little research demon aren't you.

thanks for the info...
this is just beyond the level of what our military should have to tolerate...

slogans for the new DU equiped army:

GET AN EDGE ON LIFE... while you can, because you are dieing slowly

IT'S NOT JUST A JOB, ITS AN ADVENTURE.... because at a job, you can leave when it sucks...

BE ALL YOU CAN BE!.... with no internal organs...

WE WANT YOU!.... to shut up and die for your country.... don't ask questions...

THE FEW, THE PROUD.. the ones left standing after the rad dust settles...

WERE LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MEN! ... willing to die horribly from ignorance...

AIM HIGH... but you wont ever get there... because your disabled for life, and will die an agonizing death.

It is simply amazing that as many soldiers voted for the very person who is the main bastard in letting them suffer... he didn't start it... but he escalated it... unless you actually die... then you get a bonus...(gee thanks)

but the signs are clear... they are hoping that most will wither on to a slow death that cannot be directly attributed to the war...
I am now quite sure the reason all the VA benefits are being cut, is to stave off the massive influx of soldiers from the gulf wars, that will have problems for the rest of their lives...

when you consider the relatively small numbers of military over seas... the stats are very spooky...

Are we ready to pay for every soldiers entire life of disabled care?...
because, that is what we owe them, and that is what our administration is trying to prevent from happening...
thanks but no thanks... we will clean up the mess that our greedy politicians with "one stone two bird solutions" caused... of course.... we will see them up on conspiracy charges first...

first thing is first... cut the production... and switch to tungsten alloys. They work just as well for the main purpose of our need (armor pearcing).

then hunt down the scaliwags that are giving/selling the DU to the arms manufacturers... give them notice... they need to find some other fools for customers... because this government just got smart... (we hope)

the arms dealers will just have to actually buy material to make the bullets...
boo hoo.

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong



BE ALL YOU CAN BE!.... with no internal organs...

WE WANT YOU!.... to shut up and die for your country.... don't ask questions...

THE FEW, THE PROUD.. the ones left standing after the rad dust settles...

WERE LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MEN! ... willing to die horribly from ignorance...

AIM HIGH... but you wont ever get there... because your disabled for life, and will die an agonizing death.

I'm a sick person. I laughed out loud. At first.

I am now quite sure the reason all the VA benefits are being cut, is to stave off the massive influx of soldiers from the gulf wars, that will have problems for the rest of their lives...

Now you're catching on.

Are we ready to pay for every soldiers entire life of disabled care?...
because, that is what we owe them, and that is what our administration is trying to prevent from happening...

Anybody? Can we have a vote here? Do we just leave these guys hangin out to dry or what?

thanks but no thanks... we will clean up the mess that our greedy politicians with "one stone two bird solutions" caused... of course.... we will see them up on conspiracy charges first...

Accountability. Responsibility. I'm in.

first thing is first... cut the production... and switch to tungsten alloys. They work just as well for the main purpose of our need (armor pearcing).

What a thought. You gotta wonder why they went with the radiation in the first place tho...? Not like nobody knew what would happen.

then hunt down the scaliwags that are giving/selling the DU to the arms manufacturers... give them notice... they need to find some other fools for customers...

Why don't we gas them or sterilize them just like we're doing to other sick Americans?


.

Thanks for the reference Soficrow

I'd like to hear from the supporters of DU weapons.

Radiation attacks DNA and leads inevitably to cancer. So what benefits outweight the risks of your own soldiers dying from cancer?

Not to metion the contamination of foreign countries and civilian populations for years to come?
.

Thanks sofi for bringing this out, I have personal reasons for wanting to know what is going on, as most people know my husband is a vet from the first gulf war.

While he was in the gulf he called me a few times and in one of these calls he told me that they were giving them something in case Saddam was using biological and chemical weapons.

But when I tried to ask more of that he suddenly stopped.

When my husband came back, he said that it was rumor that Saddam indeed used chemical weapons.

But when I asked him what they gave him while in the gulf war, he said to me that he could not tell me because he had to sign papers in which he would be not disclosure what was given to him.

All he said is that he got sick from whatever they gave him, and that he stopped because fo that.

After my husband came back he went through a series of tests but it was all part of “his physical”

In 1996 my husband got a letter that said, something about the gulf war syndrom and that he needed to disclosure any problems that he was experiencing and that the government was doing a study on the problem.

After my husband retired in 1998, he got another letter in which it said that the study on the gulf war syndrom show no enough evidence.

But when my husband got a copy of his records he found a letter from the DOD that said that
He was a gulf war vet and that any problems related to health was to be directed to the vets’ affairs.

After 14 years finally my husband said that he is not worry about contamination because he spend most of his tour in Bashra.

But he did not deny that something else beside the contamination was involved.

This what I found about, not from my husband but from research.

Washington -- The National Gulf War Resource Center, an umbrella group representing sixty organizations, called upon the Department of Defense (DOD) to launch "immediate and aggressive" medical research studies into pyridostigmine bromide (PB) an experimental pill given to soldiers during Desert Storm in 1991.
1. Today the Department of Defense released a review of existing medical research on PB by the RAND Corporation. The bottom line conclusion of RAND was that PB could not be ruled out as one of the causes of Gulf War Illnesses - a collection of illnesses affecting more than 100,000 U.S. veterans of Desert Storm.
The RAND report also calls for new research into PB, along with research into PB's possible interaction with pesticides and repellents given to soldiers to apply to their skin to ward off desert insects. The DoD estimates as many as 250,000 U.S. troops took PB pills.

Now 250,000 US troops were given PB pills this pills and other stuff in their emergency kids were experimental stuff. Now how much of this experimental stuff was safe? And perhaps is more than the Uranium contamination, we only know about these things because what is going on right now.

Originally posted by marg6043

Now 250,000 US troops were given PB pills this pills and other stuff in their emergency kids were experimental stuff. Now how much of this experimental stuff was safe? And perhaps is more than the Uranium contamination, we only know about these things because what is going on right now.

Good points marg.

Most modern diseases are "multifactorial" - meaning several factors contribute to the disease and affect its speed of progression and how and where it comes out in the body.

The Environmental Genome Project (EGP) was set up in 1997 to try and figure out all the different effects, especially the genetic ones. ...Once chemicals and things get inside our bodies they team up and form new "compound" - many which don't exist in the natural world, or even the laboratory. ...It's one heck of a mess.

Bottom line: all the poisoners and polluters think they're off the hook because there's no single cause-and-effect relationship. ...They're weaseling on technicalities.



.

This site offers a review of the Scientific literature as it pertains to gulf war illenesses.

www.gulflink.osd.mil...

Pyridostigmine bromide is not an exotic or experimental drug. The Food and Drug Administration approved it in 1955 for use in treating myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that causes muscle weakness and fatigue. However, when approved for use in the Gulf, the approval was as an investigational new drug. This classification means that pyridostigmine bromide had not been formally approved for general commercial marketing as a nerve gas antidote.
1. There was no effort to withhold information from the troops or the public. In fact, pyridostigmine bromide use was widely reported by the news media at the time. The Department of Defense believes that most individuals knew they were taking an oral drug to counter the effects of a possible attack with nerve agents. However, troops did not receive enough information about the possible side effects of pyridostigmine bromide. Information was prepared for distribution in the field, but it did not arrive before hostilities began.

deploymentlink.osd.mil...