A group of U.S. scientists determined in a study of American Gulf War veterans that the nerve agent sarin caused the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, BBC News reports.
Dr. Robert Haley of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the lead researcher on the study, told the BBC that soldiers in Iraq at the time were exposed to a diluted sarin gas which wasn't enough to kill them, "but it was enough to make people ill if they were genetically predisposed to illness from it."
The study, which received much of its funding from the federal government, analyzed 1,000 American Gulf War veterans in a randomly selected group.
Haley said, "this is the most definitive study" on Gulf War Syndrome.
"We believe it will stand up to any criticism. And we hope our findings will lead to treatment that will relieve some of the symptoms," he added.
The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, a British advocacy group, said in a statement that sick Gulf War veterans "have been disowned, ignored and lied to by consecutive governments, with no positive answers to their questions about exposure to toxic substances and gases and the affect it had on them both physically and mentally."
The organization added, "We hope the U.K. government takes this report on board and will respond by offering Gulf veterans access/opportunity to have the tests. This will hopefully lead to more meaningful and proper medical treatment which they have for too long been denied."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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