SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Soldiers exposed to nerve gas during the Persian Gulf War were no more ill than other veterans of the war, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego say their study indicates that the nerve gases sarin and cyclosarin aren't necessarily to blame for the illnesses reported by thousands of Gulf War veterans.
The study compared hospitalization records of 124,500 Army veterans who may have been exposed to the nerve gases and 224,800 who were not.
For the four years after the 1991 war, there was no difference in how many of each group were hospitalized for any reason. There also was no significant difference in hospitalization rates for any of 15 specific types of disorders.
"We can't rule out some possible low-exposure effects,'' said Dr. Gregory Gray, a Navy captain who headed the study. "But it's strong evidence that there's not a difference in hospitalization.''
The nerve gas study appeared in Wednesday's issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, published by the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Paul Sullivan, head of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a Washington, D.C.-based group formed on behalf of sick Gulf War veterans, said the study is unreliable.
"Their tortured history of lies leaves them with zero credibility on the issue of Gulf War illnesses,'' Sullivan said, claiming the military has changed its story many times on toxic exposures during the war.
"We all know that we would never, ever trust the tobacco industry if they issued a statement saying that cigarettes improved your health,'' he said.
The veterans who might have been exposed to nerve gas were in military units deployed near the Khamisiyah weapons depot when it was demolished in March 1991. It was later determined that some of the 1,250 rockets destroyed contained sarin and cyclosarin, enough to release an estimated 342 gallons into the air.
About 100,000 of the 700,000 troops who fought in the war against Iraq have officially complained of health problems they attribute to service in the Persian Gulf. Many suffer from extreme fatigue, joint and muscle pain, concentration and memory problems, rashes, fever, diarrhea and other chronic problems.
01-Sep-99 Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.