Gulf War Vets Risk Lou Gehrig's Disease, Studies Say

I knew someone who had Lou Gherigs disease.... it is a very sad and aggressive disease....

I think this should be a wake up call to look into just what the hell the US army is exposing its troops to...


washingtonpost.com
Gulf War Vets Risk Lou Gehrig's Disease, Studies Say



Reuters
Monday, September 22, 2003; 5:19 PM



By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Veterans of the 1991 Gulf War may have an unusually high risk of a deadly and incurable nerve disease called ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, according to two U.S. studies published on Monday.

While ALS is far from common among the veterans, it has appeared more than expected and at younger-than-usual ages, the separate studies found.

One of the studies was done by Dr. Robert Haley, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas -- who has found much if not most of the published medical evidence supporting the idea of Gulf War Syndrome.

A second study by the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs and National Institutes of Health reaches similar conclusions Both were published in the journal Neurology.

The VA released its preliminary findings in December 2001.

"VA has contacted the Gulf War veterans identified in the study to help them file new claims or to expedite existing claims. We have granted disability to 37 Gulf conflict veterans for ALS," A VA spokesman said.

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I am a Persian Gulf veteran from the Desert Storm/ Shield era; I was stationed onboard the USS Midway, and although we were never "near" the coast (officially), we did see several burning oil platforms.
What's my point?
I was diognosed with Persian Gulf Syndrome in 1994, MY symptoms including: fatigue, headaches, and chronic diarehha. All this from catching some smoke...
I feel sorry for the people who were landside... if I have the problems, I can only imaging what those who were truly exposed are going through. I'm only 31 years old, but man... sometimes it's good to ignore things.