Congress OKs $10M for Gulf War illness research
By Kelly Kennedy - USA Today
Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-12-18/congress-funds-gulf-war-illness-research/52053018/1
Posted : Monday Dec 19, 2011 9:44:26 EST
WASHINGTON — Congress has approved dedicating $10 million to research the
mysterious Gulf War illness. The move ends concerns from veterans’ groups that
the money would disappear because of budget problems.
The spending bill passed by the Senate on Saturday and signed by President Obama
includes the money for specific research into the series of ailments suffered by
veterans of the Persian Gulf War. Originally, money for the research would have
to come from a larger pot of money that could have been spent on other work
besides studying Gulf War illness.
Related reading:
Veterans worry about Gulf War illness funding (Oct. 12)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, led House efforts to restore the money. He told
USA Today that sick veterans had called from their beds to ask members of
Congress to approve the funding.
“When one out of three who served is affected, and when some veterans’ maladies
are turning into long-term health problems like ALS (amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease), and when researchers are getting closer
every single year to finding a treatment with this program, there is an
urgency,” Kucinich said. “It’s comparatively little money that is doing an
extraordinary amount of good and is the best hope we have for them.”
About one in four Gulf War veterans have developed chronic headaches, widespread
pain, memory and concentration problems, persistent fatigue, gastrointestinal
problems, skin abnormalities and mood disturbances, said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,
who also pushed for the funding.
The possibility of cuts came just as researchers in the peer-reviewed
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program had begun making progress on
possible treatments.
The research is different because it is not directed by the departments of
Defense or Veterans Affairs. For years, Veterans Affairs focused its research on
the mental health issues of Gulf War veterans, rather than assuming a physical
cause, and the Defense Department stopped funding research on Gulf War research
several years ago.
Recent research suggests the cause may be the bug sprays, anti-nerve-agent pills
and sarin gas troops were exposed to, and treatments targeting that possibility
have shown promise. One study funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical
Research Program showed that coenzyme Q10 appeared to relieve some Gulf
veterans’ symptoms.
“It’s reassuring to see that members of Congress of both parties remain strongly
committed to finding treatments for Gulf War illness, as the Institute of
Medicine says can still likely be done with the right research,” said Jim Binns,
chairman of the federal Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’
Illnesses.