GWI and Other CDMRP Funding Fully Intact in Latest Continuing Resolution

 

Today’s news on the Congressional Continuing Resolution is good news for Gulf War  and other veterans and military service members : Gulf War Illness treatment focused research would be continued at $8 million, ALS research would be funded at the same level as GWI, $8 million, and MS research would be funded at $4.8 million.

The following is from the DOD explanatory chart for the latest House Continuing Resolution (CR) for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). 

The data is provided courtesy of Gavin Lindberg, Vice President for Legislative Affairs with the Health & Medicine Counsel of Washington (HMCW).

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Budget Request      Recommendation  (in $1,000’s)

• ALS     ---     +8,000
• Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine   ---   +4,800
• Autism Research    ---    +6,400
• Bone Marrow Failure Disease Research Program   ---   +4,000
• Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy   ---  +4,000
• Global HIV/AIDS Prevention   ---    +10,000
• Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health     ---    +100,000
• Global Deployment of the Force medical research funding – Department of Defense requested transfer to maintain full funding for the program     ---    +125,000
• Gulf War Illness Peer-Reviewed Research Program    ---   
  +8,000
• Multiple Sclerosis    ---     +4,800
• Peer-Reviewed Alzheimer Research     ---    +15,000
• Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program    ---   +150,000
• Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program    ---    +16,000
• Peer-Reviewed Lung Cancer Research Program   ---    +12,800
• Peer-Reviewed Orthopedic Research Program    ---   +24,000
• Peer-Reviewed Ovarian Cancer Research Program   ---   +20,000
• Peer Reviewed Vision research in conjunction with the DoD Vision Center of Excellence    ---    +4,000
• Peer-Reviewed Prostate Cancer Research Program   ---    +80,000
• Peer-Reviewed Spinal Cord Research Program   ---   +12,000
• Research in Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders  ---   +5,200
• SBIR to the core funded RDT&E    ---   +1,200
• Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC)   ---   +6,400 
• Pain Management Task Force Research   ---    +4,000
• Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program   ---   +50,000

TOTAL, DEFENSE HEALTH PROGRAM    (in $1,000’s)
Budget Request:  30,935,111    Recommendation:  31,382,198

 

--Anthony Hardie

Promising Gulf War Illness Treatment Study Recruiting Participants in North Carolina

Respected GWI researcher to investigate two promising treatments for GWI with premier DoD-CDMRP funding

91outcomes Editor’s Note:

This Gulf War Illness treatment study is funded by the peer-reviewed, Congressionally Directed, U.S. Department of Defense Gulf War Illness Medical Research Program (CDMRP-GWI), the nation’s premier GWI research program.

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), one of the two drugs to be investigated for GWI in this study, has been found to have significant health benefits in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and several other chronic multi-symptom health conditions.  For more information on LDN, see:  www.lowdosenaltrexone.org.

The study’s Principal Investigator, Dr. William Meggs, is a respected scientist who has served on the Congressionally chartered U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RAC-GWVI) for many years. 

-Anthony Hardie

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GULF WAR ILLNESS STUDY

If you served in the 1991 Gulf War and developed symptoms of Gulf War related illness, you may be eligible to participate in a treatment protocol conducted by Dr. William J. Meggs at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina and sponsored by the Department of Defense.

After a telephone screening interview, participants who qualify and wish to participate will be brought to the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina, to undergo an evaluation.

The study will test the benefits of two approved generic drugs, naltrexone and dextromethorphan, in treating the symptoms of Gulf War illnesses. These drugs will be studied because they are beneficial in illnesses similar to Gulf War illnesses, safe, readily available, and reduce inflammation in the brain that may be responsible for some of the symptoms that Gulf War Veterans are having.

If you feel that you may qualify for this study and are interested in participating, please contact Dr. William J. Meggs either by email [ meggsw@ecu.edu, copy to farmera@ecu.edu ], or telephone [252-744-2954].

Gulf War Illness, other CDMRP Programs to Remain Fully Funded this Year under Congressional Funding Bill

House Continuing Resolution contains full funding for Gulf War Illness treatment research, funding for ALS, MS, Lung Cancer, and 21 other key military medical research priorities

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes.com

(91outcomes.com) – The continuing appropriations (CR) legislation expected to be considered in the U.S. House of Representatives this week contains full funding for the Congressionally Directed, treatment-focused Gulf War Illness Medical Research Program (CDMRP), a move that will be of great relief to the Gulf War veteran community. 

Since the failure of the omnibus appropriations bill at the end of the 112th Congress last December, the Gulf War Illness advocacy community has remained vigilant as current year funding was left as an unwritten promise by Congressional leaders.

As it was funded in the past few years, the Gulf War Illness peer-reviewed treatment-focused research program on which I have served since its initial funding in 2006 would be funded under the House bill at $8 million.  Our program vision statement directs that funded research must help to improve the health and lives of those suffering from Gulf War Illness. 

Led by Chairman Jim Binns, the Congressionally chartered Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RAC-GWVI) on which I serve recommended, sought creation of, and has been instrumental in the funding for the CDMRP program for peer-reviewed Gulf War Illness treatment research.

The House CR would also provide an $8 million appropriation for ALS research funding, a substantial increase over last year.  ALS has been found in epidemic-level rates in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War and is a presumptive condition for service-connection for any U.S. veteran.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly degenerative neurological condition that usually claims the lives of its victims in as short as 18 months after initial diagnosis.  Heavily engaged in advocacy efforts, the ALS Association’s mission is is to lead the fight to treat and cure ALS through global research and nationwide advocacy while also empowering people with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and their families to live fuller lives by providing them with compassionate care and support.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) funding is also included in the House version of the CR, at $4.8 million.  MS is believed by Gulf War veterans to also be highly prevalent among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War.   The National MS Society, heavily involved in advocating for this funding, is a collective of passionate individuals who want to do something about MS now—to move together toward a world free of multiple sclerosis.

MS is a presumptive condition for VA service-connection if it’s diagnosed within seven years of discharge from active duty. 

Under the House version of the CR, peer-reviewed Lung Cancer research would be funded at $12.8 million.  The Lung Cancer Alliance, the only national non-profit organization dedicated solely to patient support and advocacy for people living with lung cancer and those at risk for the disease, has substantial concerns about lung cancer in Gulf War and other veterans.

Led by House Rules Committee Chairman David Drier, new to the current 113th Congress is a House Rules website that allows for relatively transparent and easy tracking of upcoming legislation and bills currently under consideration by the House.    Internet resources for tracking are posted below this article.

Twenty-one other CDMRP peer-reviewed military medical research programs would also be funded under House CR.   The full listing of the critically important CDMRP military medical research programs and their proposed funding levels under the House CR are as follows:

1. ALS $8,000
2. Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine $4,800
3. Autism Research $6,400
4. Bone Marrow Failure Disease Research Program $4,000
5. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy $4,000
6. Global HIV/AIDS Prevention $10,000
7. Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health $100,000
8. Global Deployment of the Force medical research funding -Department of Defense requested transfer to maintain full funding for the program $125,000
9. Gulf War Illness Peer-Reviewed Research Program $8,000
10. Multiple Sclerosis $4,800
11. Peer-Reviewed Alzheimer Research $15,000
12. Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program $150,000
13. Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program $16,000
14. Peer-Reviewed Lung Cancer Research Program $12,800
15. Peer-Reviewed Orthopedic Research Program $24,000
16. Peer-Reviewed Ovarian Cancer Research Program $20,000
17. Peer Reviewed Vision research in conjunction with the DoD Vision Center of Excellence $4,000
18. Peer-Reviewed Prostate Cancer Research Program $80,000
19. Peer-Reviewed Spinal Cord Research Program $12,000
20. Research in Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders $5,200
21. SBIR to the core funded RDT&E $1,200
22. Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) $6,400
23. Pain Management Task Force Research $4,000
24. Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program $50,000
25. Neurofibromatosis Research $16,000

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MORE INFORMATION:

H.R. 1, Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011:  http://rules.house.gov/Legislation/legislationDetails.aspx?NewsID=100 

CR DoD Funding Tables:  See Page 54 of 55 --  http://www.rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/legislativetext/2011crapprops/FY%202011%20Department%20of%20Defense%20Base%20Funding.pdf

Gulf War Illness Medical Treatment Research Funding Panel Meets Today

Opening Moment of Silence Recognizes Severity of Gulf War Illness, Impact on Gulf War Veterans Two Decades After War

Written by Anthony Hardie

(91outcomes.com) – Today, the integration panel of the Congressionally directed Gulf War Illness Research Program (CDMRP is a U.S. Department of Defense military medical research  funding program) will meet in the Washington, DC area to make its final determinations for funding approximately $8 million in Gulf War Illness research proposals.

The program is focused on treatments and research that will lead to treatments in order to improve the health and lives of Gulf War veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The funding, appropriated each year by Congress, in contained in the annual Defense authorization and appropriations acts.  This year’s defense authorization bill for has become the subject of news and controversy for several of the proposals it contains, though the media has made no mention of the Gulf War Illness research funding authorization it is believed to contain.

Proceedings of the panel are not public at this stage because the information being discussed includes proposals detailing proprietary intellectual property of the researchers and research institutions involved.

The funded proposals will be announced in the upcoming months, after they have been funded and contracts to perform the proposed research have been completed. 

It is customary for each CDMRP panel to begin with a “Moment of Silence”.  Having been given the honor of making today’s “Moment of Silence,” below is what I will be saying before the scientists, medical doctors, Gulf War veteran “consumer reviewers” and CDMRP staff and contractors begin this morning.

In recognition of the 250,000 veterans of the 1991 Gulf War who remain disabled by chronic multi-symptom illness better known as Gulf War Illness, may God bless these efforts, all the researchers who have worked so hard to develop proposed solutions to help improve the health and lives of Gulf War veterans, and the CDMRP staff, contractors, and reviewers, and the veterans all involved hope to help.

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MOMENT OF SILENCE DEDICATION – Anthony Hardie, Gulf War Veteran

Delivered at the Commencement of the Gulf War Illness Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s Integration Panel Meeting at metro Washington, DC., December 2, 2010

The following are real stories from real Gulf War veterans who have written to me in the last few months.

From a A Missouri Navy Gulf War Veteran with PTSD and GWI: “I am a 90-91 veteran of the Gulf War. I have tried to receive help for many years through the Va and other sources. Since my discharge from the Navy I feel as though I really have not had a "good day" , when I am not sick with physical problem I am so withdraw from the outside world. I really don't know why I am writing this to you I just seen this and thought maybe someone would understand. Could you tell me where I could go or what you think Is wrong maybe you have encountered other veterans with some of these same problems.

“I have chronic breathing problems and bad stomach aches and body aches. My nose runs all the time and I have this persistent cough and a lot of time have hoarseness. I hate nighttime I do not sleep. I have severe anxiety and insomnia. I have severe mood swings and most of the time just want to be alone I cannot be around groups of people and really do not ever want to carry on conversations with anyone. I do not have friends and really do not want them. I just feel like life isn't going to be long for me so its hard for me to see the future. Is there any information or advice you could give me to help me and my family before I loose them all. Thank you your fellow veteran.”

And, From a female Gulf War veteran: “I finally (today) filed for VA disability for issues I have been dealing with since 1991 and that have increasingly gotten worse in the last 10 yrs. I filed for Fibromyalgia, Fatigue, tinnitis, headaches, plantar fascitis, and IBS. I did take the little pills and get the shots before deploying, but the military didnt keep records of this! There were also the black pesticide trucks all over Khobar where I lived every night. Main problem is that now, at 42, I can no longer handle the episodes or manage them with rest, diet, supplementation, etc, and new symptoms are cropping up now. I do not think I can work and support myself in a few years when they worsen even more.”

And, after responding to her, “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU - It is nice to have someone tell me I have a case for my 19 years of suffering!!”

And, from A Medically Retired Army Gulf War Veteran from Kentucky: “ I'm feeling a little crappy, but oh well. I will live. Never had these rashes before the gulf. And they get bad and I get much sicker like I am now . Then my norm. But I have faith, things are going to get better.”

…And so, for the veterans like the Missouri Gulf War veteran with PTSD and GWI who has given up hope…

…For the 42-year-old female Gulf War veteran who is relieved just to know she has a case for her 19 years of suffering….

…For the Gulf War veteran from Kentucky who has faith in what we have been doing and what we are about to do here today…

…And for the approximately 250,000 of our fellow Gulf War veterans still dealing with chronic and debilitating multi-symptom illness not explained by any known psychiatric or medical diagnosis, please join me in a moment of silence before we begin this critically important work today and May God bless our efforts here today.

Another Breakthrough on Gulf War Syndrome: IOM Report Confirmed Two Decades of Gulf War Veterans’ Statements

By Camilla Louise Lyngsby, Columbia University SIPA

This summer marked the 20th Anniversary of the [buildup to the 1991] Gulf War, yet many veterans of that conflict continue to grow sicker.

[An April 2010] report released by the Institute of Medicine now provides additional scientific evidence to back up veterans’ claims that Gulf War illnesses exist, and are associated with their deployment.

Still, the soldiers who served the nation from 1990-1991 have not been getting the health care, treatment and disability benefits they needed and earned.

Just before the beginning of this semester, this reporter attended a congressional hearing on the issue.

Donald Overton, Executive Director for Veterans of Modern Warfare who served in the Gulf War, receives benefits for his blindness because it’s irrefutable, but not for his debilitating symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.

“While some may view my injuries as devastating, particularly my blindness, I consistently contend I am one of the fortunate warriors that served during this conflict,” said Overton. “My conditions unlike those of so many of my battle buddies, could not be refuted by the Veterans Benefits Administration, thus affording me access to VA healthcare and benefits program.”

Of the 696,842 service members who served in the war, about 250,000 veterans suffer from the multi-symptom illness also, known as Gulf War Syndrome.

This is the same government that placed them in harm’s way that is now unwilling to fulfill its obligations to protect them. Many of the soldiers who served in the conflict were wounded in the line of duty and suffering from a range of physical disabilities including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia which is the most common arthritis-related illness  and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. According to the Veterans of Modern Warfare, “We believe that these presumptions are appropriate and consistent with countless peer-reviewed scientific studies that have concluded that these conditions and symptom sets have high, unusual prevalence among veterans of the 1990 – 1991 Gulf War.”

Gulf War veterans are heading down that same path as the Vietnam War veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange, and who were denied disability compensation benefits for decades.

Soon after the Gulf War, veterans started to contact the American Legion Service Officers complaining about health issues stemming from their service in the country or upon their return from Southwest Asia. “The symptoms were wide-ranging, but fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes, memory loss appeared to be met with a common diagnosis ─ “It is all in your head,” or “It is stress-related,” by both the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care professionals, said Ian de Planque, Deputy Director of Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission, American Legion.  We even learned of biases within the health care profession that found undiagnosed illness as simply a desire for disability compensation.”

It’s unclear how to treat Gulf War Syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that doesn’t fit into current medical concepts of disease. There is now scientific consensus that Gulf War illness is real. And being sick is a fundamental reality to the veterans suffering from the war illnesses.

In order to be effective, Dr. Stephen Hauser, the medical doctor and chairman of the most recent Institute of Medicine panel on Gulf War illness research suggested that, large scale research models are needed much like government-sponsored programs that are performed in the same manner as a national effort to eradicate polio or government research efforts to eliminate HIV/AIDS.

Chairman James Binns of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses said it is essential “to employ the best in American science, run by people who go to bed at night and wake up in the morning thinking about this problem, [but] this country is not doing that.”

Congressional members routinely ask if the VA has adequate funding to carry out its obligations, and the VA’s response is always that it has sufficient funds. However, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has accused the VA of underestimating funding needs.

Since 2009, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki and his Gulf War  Veterans Illness Task Force was charged with reexamining the disability claims of thousands of veterans. But, some skeptics say that problems remain at the VA. Paul Sullivan of the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense said, “If VA Secretary Shinseki won’t fix VA’s Research Office, then Congress must intervene and place Gulf War research outside of their area of responsibility.”

In November 2005, $75 million was appropriated for Gulf War illness research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. However In 2010, the VA cancelled the research program and is in the process of launching a new program. But apparently the VA staff is still funding research focused on “stress,” as shown in a VA most recent announcement of $2.8 million for research widely criticized by Gulf War veterans.

To this day, the trail remains cold. There have been many speculations and disagreements about the causes of the Gulf War Syndrome and the health issues faced by thousands of soldiers. Some causes considered include soldiers’ exposure to depleted uranium, chemical weapons, environmental hazards, anthrax vaccines given to deployed soldiers and infectious diseases. But many of these potential sources have been debunked. To date, research on the exposure to depleted uranium has not been launched.  [Editor’s Note:  substantial research has been conducted on DU, and found that inhaled and ingested DU are of substantial human health concern, including DNA and RNA changes that may result in long latency cancers.]

The Gulf War Syndrome and related diseases are not unique to the U.S. Many coalition soldiers reported illnesses upon their return home. In particularly German and British soldiers are suffering from Gulf War illnesses. They are waiting for the U.S. to spearhead an investigation and research into what has caused them to be sick upon return from the war zone and to why they are suffering from undiagnosed ailments and medically unexplained chronic illnesses. But the key difference is that Germany and the UK are providing medical treatment and disability benefits. Unlike the United States, these countries are taking care of their own.

The Veterans of Modern Warfare is urging Congress to enact legislation to remove all sunset provisions so health care and benefits last for the for the lifetime of every Gulf War veteran and every surviving beneficiary. Gulf War veterans have pointed to the complexity of accessing benefits and gaining permission to the Veterans Health Administration.

Chairman Charles Cragin, Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans said, “Consider for a moment that all of the fine men and women were considered in excellent health and ‘deployable’ when they went to war and shortly after their return home, the veterans began complaining of feeling ill and seeking help. These veterans were not engaged in a massive, national conspiracy to defraud the government. Rather they were sick. The ‘Process’ became a wall rather than a door.”

In 2009, the VA Task Force was responsible for conducting a comprehensive review of all VA programs and services that serve the Gulf War cohort of veterans. “Due to significant limitations in VA’s Gulf War Veterans Information System and the GWVIS reports generated from the various data sources used by the information system, it is extremely difficult to accurately portray the experiences of the 1990-1991 Gulf War cohort and their respective disability claims or health care issues,” said Chief of Staff John Gingrich, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.  That said, Gingrich continued, “This shortfall did not prevent the Task Force from identifying gaps in services as well as opportunities to better serve this veteran cohort.”

The Gulf War Veterans Information System was corrupted. To date, the issues with this data system have not been addressed, said Cragin during the hearing, “If you don’t have good data, you can’t make good decisions.”

Still, remarkably, the veterans don’t regret their service.

“The most revealing comment we have heard from the ill Gulf War veterans that we have talked to,” said Ian de Planque,  “was their answer to one simple question, “If you had it all to do over again and your unit was deployed to the Persian Gulf, would you go?”

The answer was unanimous ─ ‘Absolutely!’

These young men and women did not fail us ─ We as a nation have failed them.”

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Camilla Louise Lyngsby is a second year Master of International Affairs student and SIPA News Editor for Communiqué

VA's Cancelled Gulf War Illness Research Was Even More Promising that Previously Known, Early Studies Show

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes

(Washington, DC - November 2, 2009) - Stunning new findings related to 1991 Gulf War Illness chemical exposures and potential treatments were revealed in a presentation today by Dr. Robert Haley, director of the $75 million Gulf War Illness research funding program at the University of Texas-Southwestern in Dallas, Tex. that was discontinued by the federal VA due to a contract dispute. 

Dr. Haley's studies, comprising more than 200 researchers at six universities, had developed an animal model of Gulf War chemical exposures, determined their effects on brain functions, and were making initial strides in unlocking treatments for the brain damage caused by the Gulf War chemical exposures. His research also revealed serious health consequences for one Gulf War chemical previously thought to be safe.

Three Gulf War chemicals were selected for study study in order to determine their effects on brain function, including:

• Chlorpyrifos (CP), a pesticide highly used in the Gulf War including in flea collars worn by many Gulf War troops to ward away biting sand fleas. 
• Pyridostigmine Bromide (PB), a pill taken by about 250,000 Gulf War troops to help sustain life after exposure to soman nerve agent, a key chemical warfare agent in the Iraqi chemical warfare arsenal at the time. PB has been implicated in a number of scientific studies as causally linked to the chronic multi-symptom illness, commonly known as Gulf War Illness, which affects between one-fourth and one-third of the 697,000 veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. 
• DFP, a good surrogate for Sarin, a potent chemical warfare nerve agent released in March 1991 at Khamisiyah, Iraq by U.S. demolitions teams, shortly after the war's conclusion. The U.S. Department of Defense contacted about 100,000 in the mid-1990s to notify them that they had been exposed to low-levels of sarin and cyclosarin nerve agents and possibly mustard gas when a"pl ume" lasting for three days following the detonations drifted over and exposed U.S. Gulf War troops. While the two letters sent to troops by DoD downplayed the risks of the exposures, numerous scientific studies have shown that rates of chronic multi-symptom illness, brain cancer, and other serious health effects are much higher among the Khamisiyah group than in other deployed Gulf War veterans.

Mouse Model

The first phase of the studies was to develop a mouse model of the effects of exposure to Gulf War chemicals on the brains of the laboratory mice. The mouse model study was conducted by providing laboratory mice with repeated low-dose exposures to Gulf War chemicals such that it was followed by the appearance of brain dysfunction lasting at least three months. The goal was to work out what was the exposure "recipe" that cuases delaysd, chronic changes in the laboratory mice. Once determined, the model would then be validated, and treatments would be developed.

According to Dr. Haley's presentation, that work has been successful in several areas.

One of the intermediate goals was to establish the brain penetration of a range of doses of the Gulf War chemicals, and that was accomplished. It was already known that CP and Sarin (DFP) readily crossed into the brain and caused damage. However, one of the study's surprising findings was that about 10 percent of the dose of PB--a drug used currently and for many decades in the treatment of myasthenia gravis, a neurodegenerative condition that results in extreme muscle weakness and failure--crosses into the brain. Until now, it had been believed that PB did not cross the blood-brain barrier. 

ALS 

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, has been shown to have occurred at excessively high rates among Gulf War veterans and at far younger ages than is normally seen. The studies revealed that PB reduces the number of neurons in key areas of the brain, and that the PB and CP Gulf War chemicals were linked to ALS in the mouse models.

The findings suggest that CP exposures led to damage to the mitochondria in the cells, making individuals more susceptible to a highly problematic cycle of oxidative stress that may result in serious or even fatal neurological diseases, including ALS. 

Brain Cancer 

The studies revealed that PB stimulated negative effects in the brain more so than CP or sarin (DFP), and led to the development of a factor that leads to brain cancer.

Brain cancer in Gulf War veterans has been shown to exist at at least twice the rate of non-deployed Gulf War era troops, but there has been no explanation before now for what might be the causative factors.

The studies demonstrated that there is an initial, dramatic neuroinflammatory response in the mice, and that it diminishes over time. However, at the stage at which the studies were terminated by VA, it was unable to be determined what the effects of that final state might be, including whether it might still be capable of producing symptoms. 

Mitochondrial Effects 

Another of the studies was to show the toxic effects of Gulf War chemicals on the brain's neurons, the brain's building blocks. The study revealed early levels of damage, but was terminated by VA before it could reveal whether there was in fact damage to the cells and the powerhouse of the cells, mitochondria. If this damage was taking place, it was intended for the study to determine if the mitochondrial damage could potentially be treated by Coenzyme Q10, a substance produced naturally by the body and critical for the proper functioning of the cells.

"We are now at the point where we could be conducting studies that could help stop the neurological damage in ill Gulf War veterans where it is, or possibly even begin to reverse it," said Dr. Haley. 

What Next? 

"We are now at the point where we could be conducting studies that could help stop the neurological damage in ill Gulf War veterans where it is, or possibly even begin to reverse it," says Dr. Haley.

Yet, VA officials in the new administration do not seem willing to reverse the termination of the contract that funded Dr. Haley and his roughly 200 colleagues engaged on what can only be termed a massive effort aimed at successfully unlocking the chemical causes of, and treatments for Gulf War illness.

"I never believed that PB was part of this," said Dr. Haley. "I always believed it was sarin, sarin, sarin, possibly with the addition of chlorypyrifos or some other organophosphate [pesticide]. However, the evidence is clear and undeniable -- PB is a dangerous chemical."

One ill Gulf War veteran member of the committee, Anthony Hardie of Madison, Wis., stated his personal frustation with the VA's decision to cancel Dr. Haley's contract. "I have heard from Gulf War veterans across the country who are equally angry at the VA's crass decision to cancel your promising research program," he said.  "I hope that people [in the VA] know how wrong this decision was," he said.

Another Gulf War veteran member of the Committee, Marguerite Knox, from Columbia, S. Car., questioned if PB may still be carried currently by U.S. troops in the event of exposure to sarin or other nerve agents.

Third Congressional Hearing on Gulf War Illness Research Postponed

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes

(Washington, DC - November 2, 2009) - The Congressional hearing on recommendations for future directions of Gulf War veterans' illnesses health research, originally scheduled for this Wednesday, November 4, has been postponed.

The hearing will be rescheduled at a future date.

Two previous hearings in the series have been held by the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which have highlighted significant issues with VA and Department of Defense Gulf War illnesses research conducted to date.

ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS: Don't Stop--VA needs to press research on Gulf War illness

Written by the Editors of the Anchorage Daily News 

(Anchorage, Alaska - October 10, 2009) - Veterans of the 1990-91 war in Iraq continue to struggle with the government for proper attention to the mysterious illnesses known as "Gulf War syndrome." Years of research into those illnesses has linked many of them to the use of pesticides and a nerve-gas antidote used by U.S. forces during that war. That research, while not absolutely conclusive, gives the lie to what the government had been telling vets who suffer from brain damage, gastrointestinal diseases, fatigue, memory loss, chronic diarrhea, joint pain and persistent headaches.

Post-traumatic stress, the feds said. A psychiatric condition.

No way, says the lead researcher into Gulf War illness at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

"Now we know it's a real disease caused by chemical exposure," epidemiologist Robert Haley told The Dallas Morning News.

However, the Veterans Administration has canceled the Texas medical center's $75 million contract to study the disease and figure out effective treatment. The department said that Haley's research has violated many research protocols; critics have questioned his methodology.

We can't judge Dr. Haley's contract performance. But his work, and other confirming research, makes clear that this work needs to continue. If not with Dr. Haley's group, then with someone else.

Haley's conclusion, that Gulf War illness is "a real disease" and not a manifestation of stress, received powerful confirmation in 2008. That's when a congressionally sanctioned group of scientists, medical experts and military vets found Gulf War illness was fundamentally different from stress-related syndromes.

The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses pulled together work of scientific and government investigations and found the evidence "leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition."

The Veterans Administration continues to resist that conclusion.

At stake is what could be billions of dollars in veterans' disability benefits.

Much more important, what's at stake is the health of up to one in four Gulf War vets who may be suffering from chemical exposures inflicted by their own forces with the best of intentions.

The VA has a troubling track record in these matters. It took decades for the government to acknowledge the terrible effects of Agent Orange and other toxic defoliants used in Vietnam.

And the official response to the Gulf War illness was first to blame it on stress. Then there was foot-dragging.

No more delays -- and let's not lose whatever knowledge Dr. Haley and his colleagues have gained.

The nation owes Gulf War vets its best effort to zero in on causes and cures. Anything less is betrayal.

BOTTOM LINE: Evidence is strong that Gulf War illness is real. Let's stand by our vets and find out how to treat it.

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Editor's Note:  the following editorial, also by the Anchorage Daily News, rings as true now as it did nearly a year ago when it was first published.


Gulf War illness: Government finally admits vets suffer from a real condition

Written by the Editors of the Anchorage Daily News

(Anchorage, Alaska - November 18, 2008) - The official U.S. government response to claims of Gulf War illness has run from skepticism to outright denial.

This week's report by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illness should put an end to doubt. Contrary to government claims, debilitating symptoms are not likely from battlefield stress and other psychological factors. The council, made up of scientists and veterans and working on marching orders from Congress, lays the blame on exposure to pesticides and the PB (pyridostigmine bromide) pills taken to thwart the effects of nerve gas.

With one in four of the 697,000 Gulf War vets reporting some level of the same symptoms, the lights should have gone on a long time ago in the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

One in four -- and yet these 172,000 veterans have had to deal with a government that simply didn't believe them.

Enough. The council concludes that Gulf War illness is real. That's bitter confirmation to the veterans who have suffered from what the report calls a "complex of multiple concurrent symptoms" that "typically includes persistent memory and concentration problems, chronic headaches, widespread pain, gastrointestinal problems, and other chronic abnormalities."

So now veterans have rigorous support for what they have contended all along -- it's not just in our heads, we're not making it up. We're sick.

The report should help clear the way for an all-out effort to find treatment and a cure. If the government drags its feet now, it'll be doing a grim impression of the tobacco industry in the face of the Surgeon General's reports.

The council, noting that research funds for Gulf War illness have declined in recent years, recommends a boost of $60 million in research toward effective treatment and cure. That's a good start.

Clearly, Gulf War illness was inflicted on our troops unintentionally. The military was trying to protect them from weapons that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was known to possess and willing to use.

Just as clearly, the United States owes Gulf War veterans whatever treatment of that illness is available now, along with serious research into finding a cure, or better treatment of the various symptoms.

Thousands of our Gulf War vets are sick. Let's help them.

BOTTOM LINE: Gulf War illness is real, and few vets who suffer the disease are getting better. It's past time for serious work on a cure. 
=========



Is Change Coming?  

Gulf War Illness Treatment Funding Clears Senate

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes

(91outcomes.blogspot.com - October 9, 2009) - The FY10 Department of Defense Appropriations Act has passed the U.S. Senate with the $12 million Sanders-Feingold-Byrd Gulf War Illness research funding--focused on treatments--intact.  

While there has not yet been an official statement from his office, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) has been the powerhouse behind the effort in each of the last several years to fund the peer-reviewed Gulf War Illness research program under the Pentagon's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP).  

By all accounts, DoD has done an exceptional job with the program, including funding numerous trials of promising treatments and helping develop a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of the disease -- all focused on improving the health and lives of the roughly 200,000 Gulf War veterans who remain ill following their 1991 Persian Gulf service.

Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) and his staff were likewise extremely busy helping to pass the bill and similarly did not issue a statement about his leading support for the funding.  However, Feingold has been one of a handful of Senators Gulf War veterans have been able to count among their most staunch supporters, including initiating numerous Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigations into Gulf War veterans' exposures, illnesses, and treatments.

The success of Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), another of the small handful of reliable Gulf War veteran supporters and the third in the trio sponsoring in the amendment, was touted this week in a Keyser, West Virginia Mineral Daily News-Tribune article, noting $113 million in defense projects that include the CDMRP funding.

According to the article:

 “Recent research has demonstrated that an alarming number of Gulf War veterans continue to suffer serious ailments as a result of exposure to toxic materials during the Persian Gulf War,” said Byrd, who has supported this effort for more than a decade.

“It is our moral responsibility to help those who are suffering as a result of illnesses contracted while serving our nation.  We can and must do more to find treatments and cures for these serious ailments.  This funding will continue the efforts being made to address these illnesses.”

CAPE COD TIMES: Loss of funding threatens research on Gulf War illness

Written by Scott K. Parks, The Dallas Morning News -- Published in the Cape Cod Times 

(Dallas, Texas - October 8, 2009) - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' cancellation of a $75 million contract with University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center could mean the end to the Dallas university's research into treatments and cures for Gulf War illnesses.

UT Southwestern epidemiologist Dr. Robert Haley told The Dallas Morning News that he and a team of 200 colleagues from eight universities are five years ahead of anyone else engaged in the painstaking research into why 200,000 healthy soldiers went to the Persian Gulf in 1990-91 and returned to civilian lives of chronic illness.

"Without the VA funding, discovery of a treatment is very low," Haley said.

The VA declined to comment on Haley's research. Instead, a spokesperson referred The News to an Aug. 26 news release announcing cancellation of the contract for "persistent noncompliance and numerous performance deficiencies."

Haley has been studying a small group of sick Gulf War veterans for 15 years. His findings show a range of persistent symptoms — chronic fatigue, chronic diarrhea, memory loss, joint pain, loss of muscle strength and persistent headaches — caused by battlefield exposure to pesticides and other chemicals.

The next step, supported by $15 million a year from the VA, was to be a large study of 2,000 Gulf War veterans. The results of that study would show whether chemical exposures harmed a significant number of veterans, Haley said.

"We are looking at unplowed ground," he said. "Nobody has ever looked at pesticide exposure and brain damage and chronic symptoms. People didn't believe this stuff was real, even in the civilian world, and it's never been looked at."

An estimated 700,000 veterans served in the Persian Gulf in 1990-91. Veterans groups had hoped Haley's work might break the gridlock preventing thousands of them from receiving disability benefits and medical care based on exposure to pesticides, nerve gas, oilfield fires or military-issued antidotes to nerve gas.

Haley is convinced that many veterans suffered brain damage from exposure to organophosphates (sprayed pesticides or insect repellants worn like flea collars) and pyridostigmine bromide (nerve gas antidote). He rejects the theory that Gulf War illnesses stem from post-traumatic stress — a psychiatric condition.

"Originally, this (Gulf War illness) was signed, sealed and delivered as stress," Haley said. "Now, we know it's a real disease caused by chemical exposure. It's now the conventional wisdom."

But the VA, which has the power to grant or withhold disability payments, has not embraced that conclusion. Consequently, billions of dollars in monthly veterans' benefits could hang in the balance.

The U.S. House committee on veteran affairs held two hearings on the status of Gulf War illness research in 2009. Testimony showed that federal agencies spent $350 million on 345 projects related to health care needs of Gulf War veterans between 1992 and 2007.

But critics say those projects didn't focus on identifying causes and treatment of Gulf War illnesses.

Dr. Lea Steele, a leading expert on Gulf War illnesses at Kansas State University, testified that much of the research focused on stress and psychiatric conditions and had "little or no relevance to the health of Gulf War veterans."

By contrast, Haley's supporters say his slow, painstaking research on veteran brain diseases is precisely targeted at causes and treatments.

Legally, the VA must seek the opinion of a prestigious group of medical researchers on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Gulf War and Health. The committee has reported that it cannot conclusively link toxic exposures to Gulf War illnesses.

On the other side of the ledger, another panel of prestigious scientists, the VA's Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, reported in October 2008 that "a unique neurological illness has caused significant morbidity (25 percent) among Gulf War veterans, and this is 'causally' (the highest possible level of association) linked to nerve agent antidote and pesticides used in the 1991 Gulf War."

The VA announcement ending the contract came after repeated disputes between UT Southwestern and government contract managers. A scathing report from the VA inspector general in July accused Haley of violating all sorts of VA contract protocols.

UT Southwestern administrators admitted some mistakes in contract administration and said they tried to correct them, but the VA canceled the contract anyway.

Privately, UT supporters said some longtime VA administrators resent the federal budget earmark that dedicated research funds to UT Southwestern — legislation that prevented the VA from controlling where $75 million was going to be spent on research.

In the Sept. 11 edition of Science magazine, writer Eliot Marshall quoted British psychiatrist Simon Wessely, a noted health researcher, as saying that Haley's work was worthwhile but that it's time to recognize that "we're not going to find the smoking gun that explains the cause of Gulf War illness."

Other critics allege that Haley and his team have spent too much time studying a group of 43 Navy Seabees, subjecting them to sophisticated brain imaging tests and genetic research. Haley chose the Seabees because they traveled all over the Persian Gulf, building bridges and runways in advance of troop movements.

If any group experienced all the wartime conditions in the Persian Gulf, it was the Seabees, he theorized.

Haley and his team believe their published research proves conclusively that the Seabee illnesses stem from toxic chemical exposures during the war. But his critics contend that research on such a small group proves nothing about the overall health of 700,000 men and women who served during the war.

Haley said the VA pulled the plug on his funding just as he was designing a study of 2,000 randomly selected Gulf War veterans — 1,000 sick and 1,000 healthy.

"The VA funding is the final step, the rifle shot, to prove this," Haley said. "Is what we found with the Seabees true of the whole of Gulf War veterans? And that is the final definitive question."

DALLAS MORNING NEWS: VA Decision Is a Step in the Wrong Direction

Dallas Morning News Editorial

(Dallas, Texas - October 7, 2009) -  If the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs truly wants to find out why so many Gulf War veterans returned home with unexplained illnesses after the 1990-91 conflict, then its senior executives need to re-fund local researchers who might have the answer. 

UT-Southwestern Medical Center researcher Robert Haley has been studying sick Gulf War veterans for 15 years, the last three under a $75 million, five-year research contract with the VA until the department recently terminated the contract for procedural violations.

The VA's decision is unbelievably shortsighted, as illustrated in a front page story on Sunday by Dallas Morning News reporter Scott Parks, who documented some of the significant progress that Haley's research team of more than 200 colleagues from eight universities has made in linking Gulf War illnesses to brain damage from exposure to chemicals on the battlefield. These preliminary findings could debunk theories that veterans' memory losses, chronic pain and other symptoms are stress-related.

If the early research holds true, then Haley will have solved a nearly 20-year mystery, given veterans' hope for better treatment and perhaps even aided doctors to diagnose and treat civilians with similar symptoms of unexplained origin. If, however, the VA sticks by its decision, thenyears of diligent scientific work will go down the drain, and sadly Gulf War veterans will be no closer to an answer.

UT-Southwestern and the VA have made mistakes, such as structuring the agreement as a rigid contract instead of as a flexible traditional research grant. Shelving unique and advanced research that could change lives isn't the solution. The VA's executives should see the importance of this study and allow researchers to move to the next critical research stage – a full-scale study of 2,000 Gulf War veterans.

UTSW Hires Heavy-Hitting Lobbying Firm for Gulf War Illness Research Funding

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes

(91outcomes.blogspot.com - October 2, 2009) - University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas has hired the lobbying firm Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates to lobby on its behalf for Gulf War Syndrome research funding.

UTSW's unique, $75 million earmarked contract for Gulf War illness research, led by Dr. Robert Haley, was cancelled in August by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which cited intractable contract disputes.  

Haley, recipient of the 2005 Congressional Medal of Honor Society's prestigious National Patriot Award, has been a leading researcher on Gulf War veterans' illnesses.  Haley and his research team, originally funded by Texas billionaire and longstanding Gulf War veteran advocate Ross Perot, identified measurable brain and other neurological damage in ill Gulf War veterans.  

Going on the theory that neurotoxins caused Gulf War Illness, Haley's team separated out three distinct symptom cluster-based syndromes, and was working on developing diagnostic technologies and treatments when VA abruptly canceled his earmark-funded contract. 

Among Wexler's associates listed as lobbying for UTSW on Gulf War Syndrome are Timothy Hannegan, Wexler's president, and Monty Tripp, former legal counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight.

Hannegan is the grandson of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Robert E. Hannegan and, according to his public profile, "a prolific Democratic fundraiser".  He is a former senior official with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), and has lobbying experience in aviation and homeland security sectors.  Tripp previously served as counsel to the House Subcommittee on National Security, overseeing defense activities, and has substantial experience in the House budgeting process.

Dale Snape and Daniella Landau are also listed as lobbying on UTSW's behalf. Snape, Wexler's CEO and General Manager, has "over 30 years of Washington experience at the White House Office of Management and Budget and Wexler & Walker Policy Associates," specializing in defense and other issues.  Landau is the former managing director of government affairs for American Airlines' Washington, D.C. office.

Wexler & Walker's lobbying registration on behalf of UTSW was effective September 1, 2009.

VIDEO: About the CDMRP's Treatment-Focused Gulf War Illness Research Program

  

The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program's (CDMRP) treatment-focused Gulf War Illness Research Program (GWIRP)--aimed at improving the health and lives of the 175,000 to 210,000 veterans of the 1991 Gulf War who remain ill from their military service--is funded at the pleasure of Congress each year. 

This video shows more about the CDMRP, why it is successful, and how it is positively impacting Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gulf War veterans suffering from Gulf War illness (Gulf War Syndrome), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

A Congressional conference committee will soon decide the fate of the 2010 CDMRP Gulf War Illness Research Program in the FY10 Defense Appropriations Act, with the U.S. Senate recommending $12 million and U.S. House just $8 million.

Supporters of the CDMRP's Gulf War Illness treatments and other research programs to help our injured veterans should contact  members of the Conference Committee.  While the members have not yet been fully determined, they will include, among others, the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chair and ranking member, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), and the House Defense Appropriations Subcomittee chair and ranking member, Representative John Murtha (D-Penn.) and Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young (R-Fla.).

DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Loss of funding threatens UT Southwestern's Gulf War illness research

Written by Scott K. Parks, The Dallas Morning News

(Dallas, Tex. - October 4, 2009) - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' cancellation of a $75 million contract with UT Southwestern Medical Center could mean the end to the Dallas university's research into treatments and cures for Gulf War illnesses. 

COURTNEY PERRY/DMN

UT Southwestern epidemiologist Robert Haley rejects the theory that Gulf War illnesses stem from post-traumatic stress - a psychiatric condition. 'Now, we know it's a real disease caused by chemical exposure,' he said. Veterans groups, UT Southwestern and their political supporters in Washington are working to restore VA funding for Haley's research - without it, he says, the chances of finding a treatment are low.

UT Southwestern epidemiologist Dr. Robert Haley told The Dallas Morning News that he and a team of 200 colleagues from eight universities are five years ahead of anyone else engaged in the painstaking research into why 200,000 healthy soldiers went to the Persian Gulf in 1990-91 and returned to civilian lives of chronic illness.

"Without the VA funding, discovery of a treatment is very low," Haley said.

ERICH SCHLEGEL/Special Contributor

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, got sick after serving in the Persian Gulf. He calls Dr. Haley's work essential.

The VA declined to comment on Haley's research. Instead, a spokesperson referred The News to an Aug. 26 news release announcing cancellation of the contract for "persistent noncompliance and numerous performance deficiencies."

Haley has been studying a small group of sick Gulf War veterans for 15 years. His findings show a range of persistent symptoms – chronic fatigue, chronic diarrhea, memory loss, joint pain, loss of muscle strength and persistent headaches – caused by battlefield exposure to pesticides and other chemicals.

The next step, supported by $15 million a year from the VA, was to be a large study of 2,000 Gulf War veterans. The results of that study would show whether chemical exposures harmed a significant number of veterans, Haley said.

A closer look at the body of research conducted by Haley and his colleagues shows possible ramifications beyond the health of Gulf War veterans. VA funding to support development of diagnostic tests and medical treatments for sick veterans might also have helped civilian homemakers, factory workers or farm workers who get mysterious illnesses after exposure to pesticides, Haley said.

"We are looking at unplowed ground," he said. "Nobody has ever looked at pesticide exposure and brain damage and chronic symptoms. People didn't believe this stuff was real, even in the civilian world, and it's never been looked at."

Benefits blocked

An estimated 700,000 veterans served in the Persian Gulf in 1990-91. Veterans groups had hoped Haley's work might break the gridlock preventing thousands of them from receiving disability benefits and medical care based on exposure to pesticides, nerve gas, oilfield fires or military-issued antidotes to nerve gas.
Paul Sullivan, 46, married and a father of two, served as an Army cavalry scout in the Persian Gulf. He came home with chronic lung ailments and has been working as a veterans' advocate for more than 15 years. He is considered a particularly credible critic of VA policies because he worked for the federal agency from 2000 to 2006.

"Dr. Haley's work is absolutely essential," said Sullivan, who serves as executive director of Veterans for Common Sense in Austin. "Now, with the VA's premature cancellation of the contract, time is being lost and that entire institutional knowledge at UT Southwestern is being lost."

Haley is convinced that many veterans suffered brain damage from exposure to organophosphates (sprayed pesticides or insect repellants worn like flea collars) and pyridostigmine bromide (nerve gas antidote). He rejects the theory that Gulf War illnesses stem from post-traumatic stress – a psychiatric condition.

"Originally, this [Gulf War illness] was signed, sealed and delivered as stress," Haley said. "Now, we know it's a real disease caused by chemical exposure. It's now the conventional wisdom."
But the VA, which has the power to grant or withhold disability payments, has not embraced that conclusion. Consequently, billions of dollars in monthly veterans' benefits could hang in the balance.

Relevance to vets

The U.S. House committee on veteran affairs held two hearings on the status of Gulf War illness research in 2009. Testimony showed that federal agencies spent $350 million on 345 projects related to health care needs of Gulf War veterans between 1992 and 2007.

But critics say those projects didn't focus on identifying causes and treatment of Gulf War illnesses.
Dr. Lea Steele, a leading expert on Gulf War illnesses at Kansas State University, testified that much of the research focused on stress and psychiatric conditions and had "little or no relevance to the health of Gulf War veterans."

By contrast, Haley's supporters say his slow, painstaking research on veteran brain diseases is precisely targeted at causes and treatments.

This year's House hearings clearly showed that the VA's scientific advisers are still divided about why so many Gulf War veterans suffer from one or more chronic symptoms.

Legally, the VA must seek the opinion of a prestigious group of medical researchers on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Gulf War and Health. The committee has reported that it cannot conclusively link toxic exposures to Gulf War illnesses.

On the other side of the ledger, another panel of prestigious scientists, the VA's Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, reported in October 2008 that "a unique neurological illness has caused significant morbidity (25 percent) among Gulf War veterans, and this is 'causally' [the highest possible level of association] linked to nerve agent antidote and pesticides used in the 1991 Gulf War."

It's a bureaucratic stalemate.

Restoring funding

Veterans groups, UT Southwestern and their political supporters in Washington are working to restore VA funding. If successful, they hope the money will flow as a grant rather than a government contract, which comes with many more rules and regulations.

"You can imagine," Haley said, "if you have to go to the government every time you want to take a step, your job becomes a six- or seven-decade job, and everybody quits. Everybody's dead."

The VA announcement ending the contract came after repeated disputes between UT Southwestern and government contract managers. A scathing report from the VA inspector general in July accused Haley of violating all sorts of VA contract protocols.

UT Southwestern administrators admitted some mistakes in contract administration and said they tried to correct them, but the VA canceled the contract anyway.

Privately, UT supporters said some longtime VA administrators resent the federal budget earmark that dedicated research funds to UT Southwestern – legislation that prevented the VA from controlling where $75 million was going to be spent on research.

In the Sept. 11 edition of Science magazine, writer Eliot Marshall described the VA contract with Haley as "lavishly funded." The article quoted British psychiatrist Simon Wessely, a noted health researcher, as saying that Haley's work was worthwhile but that it's time to recognize that "we're not going to find the smoking gun that explains the cause of Gulf War illness."

Other critics allege that Haley and his team have spent too much time studying a group of 43 Navy Seabees, subjecting them to sophisticated brain imaging tests and genetic research. Haley chose the Seabees because they traveled all over the Persian Gulf, building things like bridges and runways in advance of troop movements.

If any group experienced all the wartime conditions in the Persian Gulf, it was the Seabees, he theorized.
Haley and his team believe their body of published research proves conclusively that the Seabee illnesses stem from toxic chemical exposures during the war. But his critics contend that research on such a small group proves nothing about the overall health of 700,000 men and women who served during the war.
Haley said the VA pulled the plug on his funding just as he was designing a study of 2,000 randomly selected Gulf War veterans – 1,000 sick and 1,000 healthy.

"The VA funding is the final step, the rifle shot, to prove this," Haley said. "Is what we found with the Seabees true of the whole of Gulf War veterans? And that is the final definitive question."

Genetic implications

If you've never heard of Dr. John F. Teiber, you've probably never heard of the PON1 gene.

In the late 1990s, Haley's research on the Seabees began to intersect with sophisticated genetic research into the sources of disease and illness.

Teiber is one of the world's foremost experts on PON1. He is a protégé of the late Dr. Bert N. La Du of the University of Michigan. Haley recruited Teiber to UT Southwestern after La Du's death.

PON1 produces an enzyme that protects the human body from chemical toxicity. Some people produce more of the enzyme than others.

In 1999, Haley and La Du published a scientific paper that compared PON levels in a group of sick Seabees with PON levels in a control group of healthy Seabees. The control group showed higher levels of the PON enzyme.

This explained why two Seabees worked side by side in the Persian Gulf and only one of them got sick after both suffered toxic chemical exposure, according to Haley.

But the PON1 discovery had wider ramifications.

Haley enlisted the aid of a UT Southwestern colleague to build a "gene therapy device" to boost PON1 levels in laboratory mice. Generally, those mice showed more immunity to the effects of toxic chemical exposure than the control-group mice not injected with the device. The university has submitted a patent application to the U.S. government to exploit the invention.

Theoretically, after obtaining the patent, the university could license the invention to a pharmaceutical firm that turns it into a vaccine against pesticide or other chemical exposures. Future soldiers could go into battle with higher PON levels to protect them against a range of chemical exposures.

Ordinary citizens worried about their exposure to pesticides or household chemicals some day might get a PON-boosting immunization.

"With this patent, should it be given and should a [pharmaceutical company] end up with a product, the genesis goes back to the Gulf War illness research," Haley said.

Meanwhile, Teiber and his colleagues continue to labor in his PON1 laboratory on the UT Southwestern campus, charting PON1 levels in 2,000 sick and healthy Gulf War veterans.

VA funding for this work is gone, but Haley said he has found other money to support Teiber's operation.
"We are making significant progress," Teiber said. "But we were counting on the VA funds to continue the research."

DALLAS MORNING NEWS: VA Stands by Decision to Cancel Gulf War Illness Research Funding

Written by Scott K. Parks, The Dallas Morning News

(Dallas, Tex. - Sunday, October 4, 2009) - Vanessa Morton, a VA manager in charge of the Gulf War illnesses research contract with UT Southwestern Medical Center, declined to be interviewed for today's front-page story.

The Dallas Morning News asked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a credible and knowledgeable spokesperson for an interview about its position on Gulf War illnesses and why it canceled the contract with UT Southwestern.

Jessica B. Jacobsen, deputy director of the VA's regional office of public affairs, declined this request. Instead, she provided the following statement:

"Research into the illnesses suffered by Gulf War veterans as with all veterans remains a highest priority for VA. As part of our commitment to this vital effort, we must make certain that our resources are used to support the most effective and productive research.

"We stand by our decision not to exercise the third-year option with University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. VA is working with the Medical Center to capture the contractual research results. As appropriate, VA will redirect funds to support additional research into Gulf War Veterans illness especially directed to treatment."