Virginia Beach, Va
15 March 2003
SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFIARS ORDERS INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE TO STUDY LINK BETWEEN SARIN GAS EXPOSURE AND GULF WAR ILLNESS
The Sexcretrary of Veterans Affairs has directed that the VA conduct additional studies of a possible nexus between Gulf War illness and exposure to Sarin, a potent nerve gas agent.
While many of us know of the deadly effect of Sarin gas in high levels, we know very little about its potential effects at lower levels of toxicity.
The Department of Defense has already conceded that as many as 130,000 American troops may have been exposed ot low-level doses of Sarin gas when Coalition forces destroyed an Iraqi chemcial weapons site at Khamisiyah in 1991.
The Army Medical Research Institute has recently released a study that links low level exposure to Sarin gas to autoimmune disorders in laboratory animals.
Various veterans services organizations are currently pressing Secretary Principi for additional funding for the Institute of Medicine to conduct further studies of the link between Sarin and Gulf War Illness.
In light of this infromation, I am asking all visitors to this Web site to write to their representatives in Congress to specifically request that they authorize funding for additional studies of this issue of vital concern to our nation's veterans and their families.
v/r
John B. Gately
