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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> June 18, 2003

######## **New Gulf War Research Presented to Advisory Committee**

> WASHINGTON \-- Research studies that challenge the conventional wisdom
> regarding potential links between military service during the Gulf War
> and the numerous, yet often undiagnosed, illnesses reported by many
> veterans were presented recently to the Department of Veterans Affairs
> (VA) Research Advisory Committee for Gulf War Veterans Illnesses.
>
> \"I am very pleased with the progress of the committee and ongoing
> research into the illnesses that continue to afflict the brave men and
> women who served so well during the Gulf conflict,\" said Secretary of
> Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. \"They haven't given up on their
> search for answers and neither will we.\"
>
> Presentations June 16 by the principal investigators of four completed
> studies looked at the nervous system, cognitive function, use of
> pyridostigmine bromide (a drug protecting people from nerve agents)
> and exposure to pesticides and nerve gas.
>
> Antonio Sastre, Ph.D., of Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City,
> Mo., presented, for the first time, results of his Defense
> Department-sponsored study of autonomic nervous system function in
> Gulf War-era veterans. The autonomic nervous system controls many of
> the body's functions (like breathing) automatically, without any
> conscious effort. Using a battery of tests to capture the complexities
> of the autonomic nervous system, Sastre's findings indicate that ill
> veterans demonstrate autonomic system dysfunction on a broad range of
> tests.
>
> Results of a just-published VA-funded study by Roberta F. White,
> Ph.D., of Boston University School of Medicine and the Boston VA
> Healthcare System Medical Center indicated that Gulf War-deployed
> veterans performed \"significantly worse,\" on
>
> **- More -**

######### GWI Adv Cmte, 2-2-2

> tests of attention, visuospatial skills, visual memory and mood.
> Additionally, Gulf War- deployed veterans who used pyridostigmine
> bromide performed worse than their deployed comrades who did not use
> the drug.
>
> John Vogel, Ph.D., of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California,
> discussed the use of accelerator mass spectrometry to detect very low
> levels of pesticides and their effect on the brain's increased
> absorption of a second toxic exposure. The research, conducted with
> animals, was sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental
> Health Sciences.
>
> Likewise, undetected low-level exposure to sarin nerve gas can cause
> delayed development of brain alterations that may be associated with
> memory loss and cognitive dysfunction in animals. This study, by
> Rogene Henderson, Ph.D., of Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in
> Albuquerque, advances scientific understanding of the long-term
> effects of exposure to chemical weapons.
>
> "This new research has important implications, not only for ill
> veterans, but for the development of medical defenses to protect
> future American troops and civilians from chemical attack," said
> committee chairman James Binns.
>
> The advisory committee was established by Secretary Principi to review
> research and give advice on those areas showing the greatest promise
> for finding the cause, or causes, of Gulf War illnesses and treating
> Gulf War veterans.
>
> \# \# \#
>
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