GULF WAR veterans say it is time to stop dismissing the syndrome affecting nearly a third of them as the psychological fallout of battle. A scientific panel set up by US Congress that 200,000 US veterans of the 1990-1991 war still have physiological symptoms from exposure to organophosphates in insecticides, nerve gas and its antidotes.
Their 2004 report also blamed the chemicals, but the latest one says research carried out since then strengthens the association. Recent evidence shows that the syndrome is linked with high levels of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines in the brain.
The panel hopes to revive government research, which has plummeted since 2001. 鈥淚t is a blueprint for the new administration,鈥� says James Binns, the panel鈥檚 chairman and a Vietnam veteran.
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