We do not have any indication at this point that these things are transmittable to children or spouses, but we have not ruled out this possibility. We simply cannot, because if we cannot diagnose it and describe what it is, we then cannot tell you that it is not transmittable. Adding to the controversy were wives who complained about miscarriages and burning semen after sex with their husbands. Dr. Ellen Silbergeld, a toxicologist at the University of Maryland, agreed that it is possible for men exposed to toxic chemicals to pass the poison directly to their children through their semen. And genetic alterations due to toxic substances can also cause alterations in sperm cells involved in conception.
Vets claim a third of Gulf War babies have abnormalities, ten times the normal rate.
Dr. Francis Waickman, an environmental pediatrician, says the syndrome can be passed on, creating an infant whose immune system does not function normally. In the search for a cause of the syndrome, epidemiologists have been searching for a common factor that could have exposed everyone stationed in the Gulf. And the disease has affected troops who were stationed in widely scattered geographic areas in the Gulf. One factor common to all the troops is that they were given experimental drugs and vaccines as part of the requirement to serve in the Gulf. As early as December 1990, there were warnings about experimenting with US troops.