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Message from the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses

On September 29, 2005, the Department of Defense will begin sending letters to approximately 100,000 veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War. The letters are intended to provide new information to all veterans whose units may have been exposed to very low levels of chemical warfare agent resulting from the demolition of munitions at Khamisiyah. Service members do not need to take any new or additional steps to care for their health.

In late July, the American Journal of Public Health published the Institute of Medicine Medical Follow up Agency's results of a mortality study of U.S. Army personnel who were exposed to low levels of chemical warfare agents following demolition operations at Khamisiyah, Iraq in 1991.

The study concluded that the overall rate of death was similar for veterans whose units may have been exposed to very low levels of chemical agent as they were for veterans who were not. The only cause of death with a dissimilar rate was brain cancer, although overall cancer deaths were similar for both groups. Study authors state in the report that "neither sarin nor cyclosarin are known carcinogens" and neither have been shown to cause cancer, including studies done on laboratory animals.

The results of this study should be regarded as preliminary. Further investigation is necessary because sarin and cyclosarin have never been shown to cause cancer and this study only evaluated deaths during the first nine years after this possible exposure. The Department of Veterans Affairs is continuing to conduct death rate studies of all Gulf War veterans. These results should help to clarify the long-term health outcomes of Gulf War veterans, including those linked to the Khamisiyah demolition. We will continue to monitor findings for any indication of specific health-related issues.

You can find more information on the Institute of Medicine release at: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/8/1382

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GulfLINK was last updated: July 26, 2005

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