Thursday, March 04, 2010
Unable to ignore the sheer number of complaints, the Department of Veterans Affairs has decided to revisit the disability claims of thousands of veterans of the Gulf War. According to advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense, more than 200,000 military personnel who served in the 1990-1991 conflict have reported multi-symptom illnesses. The VA’s Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses Task Force has been conducting a comprehensive examination of health problems affecting veterans and may soon recommend new policies for how the department should handle such cases.
Nearly 700,000 service members deployed to the Gulf region, and about 300,000 eventually filed health claims with the VA. Some of the symptoms reported by soldiers included headaches, skin problems and chronic respiratory infections. Exposure to ammunition and bomb casings containing depleted uranium and other radioactive and toxic waste has been blamed for many of the ailments.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Statement of Paul Sullivan, Executive Director Veterans for Common Sense (Veterans for Common Sense) (pdf)
VA Agrees to Take Second Look at Thousands of Gulf War Vets' Disability Claims (by Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout)
Comments