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Topic: Another Own Goal. US caused Gulf War Syndrome. (Read 444 times) |
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Hermit
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Another Own Goal. US caused Gulf War Syndrome.
« on: 2008-03-11 21:16:12 » |
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Brain-Tweaking Chemical Caused Gulf War Syndrome, Says Study
[ Hermit : The original study expresses statistical near-certainty. In my opinion, the expression of proper scientific caution has once again seen probability transformed into a matter of speculation and belief by an ignorant reporter. Read the last paragraph's, "the evidence ... is persuasive enough... to formally declare a cause-and-effect relationship" and compare it to the first's, "may have been caused" ]
Source: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/03/goverment-chemi.html]Wired
Authors: Brandon Keim
Dated: 2008-03-10
Refer Also:
The controversial disorder [ Hermit : This complex of symptoms - not disorder - is only controversial because the US DoD continues to attempt to scrape the epidemiological evidence under the carpet.] known as Gulf War illness may have been caused by chemicals used in pesticides and anti-nerve gas pills.
In an article published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of California, San Diego military health researcher Beatrice Golomb reviewed 115 studies on Gulf War illness, also known as GWI.
Approximately one in three veterans of the Persian Gulf War have reported lingering health problems associated with GWI, from neuropathic pain and loss of muscle control to chronic fatigue and forgetfulness.
The root -- or roots -- of GWI haven't been conclusively determined. Among the possible causes are exposure to nerve gas, still-radioactive depleted uranium ammunition, an experimental anthrax vaccine and extreme stress. Golomb's review focused on a class of chemicals known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, or AChEIs. Acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme that regulates the activity of acetylcholine, a vital neurotransmitter.
Soldiers were exposed to AChEIs in pesticides, in pills given to blunt the effects of nerve gas, and in nerve gas released during the destruction of an Iraqi weapons depot. Researchers think that AChEI exposure may cause the overexpression of a rare but debilitating version of acetylcholinesterase previously associated with symptoms similar to those of afflicted soldiers.
Again and again, the studies reviewed by Golomb found that soldiers suffering from GWI had been exposed to AChEIs; the more they'd ingested -- especially when taking AChEI-containing pills -- the worse their symptoms were likely to be.
"Across studies, significant positive relationships of AChEi-related exposures to illness in GWV outnumber significant negative relationships more than chance would predict," wrote Golomb. "The studies show a high consistency, with most showing a significant (typically strong) positive association. Few nonsignificant findings are present and virtually no inverse associations."
Golomb also noted that the symptoms of GWI are much like those reported by agricultural workers exposed to AChEI-containing pesticides, and follow effects predicted by AChEI tests on brain cells and animals.
Taken together, the evidence -- epidemiological, animal, biological -- is persuasive enough for Golomb to formally declare a cause-and-effect relationship. This isn't just important for veterans of the Gulf War, she wrote; it could also explain the as-yet-undiagnosed afflictions of civilians exposed to AChEIs.
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Fritz
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Re:Another Own Goal. US caused Gulf War Syndrome.
« Reply #1 on: 2008-03-14 18:04:57 » |
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[Fritz]The Economist reporter dances around the conclusion as well. I found it disturbing that the "Institute of Psychiatry" would be the closing argument in this article. I guess with the potential pay outs to veterans, if this can be nailed down would be significant, and everyone seems afraid of the wrath of the worlds 'mightiest' military.
Fritz
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10843161
Military health
War of nerves
Mar 13th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Was Gulf-war syndrome caused by chemical poisoning?
ONE of the lingering uncertainties from the first Gulf war is whether, and if so how, it caused chronic health problems in many of those who took part. Symptoms routinely reported in veterans include fatigue, muscle or joint pain, altered mood and sleeping patterns, and skin and memory problems (see chart). Those who went to war were far more likely to suffer such symptoms than those who stayed at home, or were deployed in other places.
Epidemiological studies have shown that 26-32% of personnel who were deployed in the Persian Gulf are ill. This figure is calculated by subtracting the fraction of non-deployed personnel who have suffered similar symptoms, but it could understate the numbers, because troops sent to war may have been in better health than those who remained at home. In any case, it means 175,000 to 210,000 veterans suffer from chronic ill health.
Speculation over the possible cause of these ailments has included fine particles from depleted-uranium weapons, the side effects from an anthrax vaccine, pollution from burning oil wells, infectious diseases and chemical weapons. Psychological stress has also been suggested, even though the conflict was short.
In recent years evidence has begun to implicate exposure to a class of chemicals known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. This week Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, a medical researcher at the University of California San Diego, lends her support to this theory. Her review in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looks at the findings of over 100 studies on Gulf-war illnesses.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, or AChEis, help to regulate the neurotransmitter acetylcholine—one of the chemicals that cause neurons to fire. The presence of AChEis causes the neurotransmitter to hang around and fire excessively, and therefore can cause abnormal brain function and uncontrolled muscle action. AChEis are found in pesticides that were used to protect soldiers against sand flies and other insects, and in the pyridostigmine bromide pills given to soldiers as part of a pre-treatment against nerve agents. In addition, AChEis are also found in sarin, a nerve gas released into the atmosphere when American forces fired rockets at the Khamisiyah munitions depot.
Dr Golomb says that many studies have found that exposure to AChEis is linked to the kind of chronic symptoms that the sick veterans report. Furthermore, she points to evidence that the more someone is exposed to these chemicals the graver their future sickness tends to be. This, she argues, provides even stronger evidence of a link.
One study modelled the amount of exposure to organophosphates (another kind of AChEi) received by veterans and found that higher estimates of exposure are associated with greater losses of the brain's white matter. Another study found that among veterans, those who were sick were more likely to have a genetic variation that means their bodies are less able to detoxify AChEis. Finally, there is a study of veterans given pyridostigmine bromide pills. Separate studies of American and Australian Gulf-war veterans show that the more pills veterans took, the worse their health is today.
Dr Golomb adds that patients with a low level of occupational exposure to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in agriculture—for example through sheep-dipping or work in greenhouses—report symptoms that mirror those of sick veterans. Taken together, she argues, the evidence suggests that AChEis do have a role in the chronic illnesses experienced by many veterans.
This may encourage sick veterans that a cause of their suffering could finally be found, but Simon Wessely, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry's centre for military health research, is sceptical. He says the review does not contain new work and is an “opinion piece that continues a line of argument Dr Golomb has put forward for some time”. He points out that independent and authoritative bodies have reviewed exactly the same literature but come to different conclusions. “The truth is, after 16 years, and the initial delays in commissioning the appropriate research, it is unlikely that we will ever fill in the pieces of this particular jigsaw.”
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