They’re Sick for Some Reason : Clearing up the mystery of the so-called Persian Gulf syndrome

Something has made thousands of American veterans of the Persian Gulf War sick, and at this point doctors can only speculate about the cause.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin says the Pentagon has ruled out chemical warfare as a cause, even though it’s possible that a small amount of Sarin, a nerve gas known to be in Iraq’s arsenal, may have been released.

Whatever the causative agent or agents, the U.S. government clearly owes it to those who have been made ill to find the reason and to provide the best possible treatment. There must be no repetition of the government’s disgraceful delay in addressing the Agent Orange problem that affected thousands who participated in the Vietnam War.

Aspin is appointing a panel of experts, headed by a Nobel laureate, Dr. Joshua Lederberg of Rockefeller University, to study the illnesses reported by the veterans. Investigators are also being sent to Saudi Arabia to try to identify what chemical substances there might have been responsible for what has come to be known as Persian Gulf syndrome. Among the components of that syndrome: pains in muscles and joints, deep fatigue and numerous cancers.

Maj. Gen. Ronald R. Blanck, commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, suspects that most of those affected were exposed to a combination of chemicals released by the numerous oil well fires set by vengeful Iraqi forces in Kuwait and to spills of ammonia and chlorine that occurred near Saudi seaports. A high proportion of victims came from two units stationed near Saudi ports.

Some veterans groups, with bitter memories of the Agent Orange debacle, have been quick to charge that the Pentagon has tried to cover up exposure to contaminants. Clearly the Pentagon did seek for a time to minimize the problem, but that is not the same thing as trying to mount a cover-up. Now it seems to be making every effort to learn why several thousand of the half-million Americans who served in the Gulf War have fallen ill. It’s vital that answers be found. It’s no less vital that the search for answers be made with full openness and candor.