A scientific panel has concluded that the Veterans Affairs Department
should stop searching for links between environmental exposures in the
1991 Persian Gulf War and veterans’ illnesses and instead focus on
monitoring and treating those who have health problems related to
deploying 25 years ago.
In a report
released Thursday, Institute of Medicine researchers said Gulf War
veterans are at increased risk for developing some physical and
psychological health conditions like post-traumatic stress, anxiety,
Gulf War illness and chronic fatigue syndrome, but other diseases like
cancer, respiratory illnesses and most neurodegenerative conditions do
not appear to occur at higher rates in these former troops.
Without
concrete information on each Gulf War veteran’s exposure and the
unlikely prospect of ever having the data, VA should focus instead on
following this group as members age and treat illnesses that develop,
panelists said.
According to the report, the federal government
has spent more than $500 million since 1994 to study Gulf War veterans'
health but “there has been little substantial progress in our overall
understanding of the health effects” from the 1990-1991 deployments.
Thus,
“without definitive and verifiable individual veteran exposure
information, further studies to determine cause-and-effect relationships
between Gulf War exposures and health conditions in Gulf War veterans
should not be undertaken,” wrote the panel of researchers,
including experts in environmental health, epidemiology and medicine.
Future research, they added, should focus on personalized care for veterans, follow-up assessments and treatment.
The panel's top recommendation also said VA should thoroughly study the “mind-body” connection of disease.
"Any
future studies of Gulf War illness should recognize the connections and
complex relationships between brain and physical functioning and should
not exclude any aspect of the illness with regard to improving its
diagnosis and treatment,” panelists noted.
The new report has
outraged advocates for veterans who suffer from illnesses stemming from
their service in the 1990-1991 operation.
They argue the report
reflects a bias among the panel toward VA and panelists were selective
in choosing which studies they reviewed for the study, "Gulf War and
Health, Volume 10: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War,
2016."
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