Dear Gulf War Veteran Client:
A Personal Note Regarding Civil Defense
Our country has been tragically propelled back into war again. Since you have military training and most don’t, and since you have experienced a chemical/biological warfare environment and its bad effects, even at low-level exposure, you may be able to provide some special help in preparation, since our civilian population has been thrust into the front lines, so to speak. Former Secretary of Defense Cohen, and other current and former national leaders, have specifically warned that we should prepare for chemical and/or biological attacks on American cities. With the training and experience that you have, you can quietly begin preparing your family, friends and communities for such a horrific eventuality. You can press your community and political leaders, particularly in large urban areas, to adequately attend to such emergency planning. If you live in or around a large city, you can make your own emergency and evacuation plans and preparations, and help your family, friends and colleagues do the same.
We know that Saddam had anthrax and most probably has it still. Enemy terrorists may have it now or may be getting it. In regard to an anthrax attack in particular, please be aware that on July 28, 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee on Anti-Infective Drug Products voted unanimously to recommend FDA approval of the antibiotic, ciprofloxacin, for post-exposure treatment of inhalation anthrax. A copy of the news note about this is attached so that you can show it to your doctor and others. The approval was granted by the FDA on August 31, 2000. Though our government is stockpiling such antibiotics, if you live in a big city, you could follow up with your community and political leaders to see that this is being done, and that the actual planning and follow-up makes sense. The medical literature indicates that the antibiotics should begin as soon as exposure is discovered. Without good planning now and in the months to come, distribution would be chaotic or nonexistent; and mass casualties would result, in the event of an attack. Some in large cities may chose to obtain a prescription of this antibiotic from their doctors for their families now.
Likewise, information that people should know is that in the event of a bio/chem attack they should go to a “safe room” in their home, school or office, stop the ventilation system, and seal off the vents and cracks in the door and windows with duct tape, to make an air tight compartment, and then wait for an all clear from local authorities, or until they are rescued. They should obviously plan on having a radio, water and some food for such a room. As you may recall, this field expedient approach is what the Israeli population did during the Scud attacks of the Gulf War. It is a relatively simple tactic that could save a lot of lives if people know about it, even without a mass distribution of gas masks as Israel did. Your experience places you in a unique position to assist in hardening the vulnerability of our communities from further attacks.
The Litigation Against Chemical/Biological Warfare Suppliers to Saddam
The lawsuit continues against the suppliers of chemical and biological warfare materials and technology to Saddam, No. 94-C-1392, Coleman, et al v. Alcolac, Inc., et al (23rd Jud. Dist of Texas). Scott Ritter is the former leader of a UNSCOM inspection team that found documents in Iraq which show who supplied Saddam, and with what. He has agreed to be one of your expert witnesses.
The documents concerning suppliers that Mr. Ritter and other UNSCOM inspectors found in Iraq are the subject of a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request that I sent to the government two years ago. USA Today joined me in making that FOIA request. Recently, the government notified me that they have located the documents responsive to our request. They stated that they are now looking through the documents to decide what they will give to us. Be aware, that if the government does not give us the documents, Gulf War veterans and their friends should be prepared to make this a political issue. These documents are important to your case. Revealing to the public who supplied chemical and biological warfare materials and technology to Saddam is also important to deter these corporations and others from doing this sort of thing in the future. It would be unconscionable for any part of our government to decide to hide these corporations and what they did.
There is a jurisdictional fight at the Texas Supreme Court level still going on over two of the defendants. Both say they did not have enough contacts with Texas to be sued here. The first one, ATCC, sold anthrax and other biological warfare agents to Saddam. The Trial Court held that we have jurisdiction over them. They appealed, and the Appeals Court agreed with us. They have appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which has not decided yet. Employees of the second, Preussag, built a nerve gas factory in Iraq. The Trial Court held that we have jurisdiction over them. They appealed, and the Appeals Court agreed with them on this one. We have appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which has not decided yet.
There is other document discovery going on that cannot be commented on at this time for security reasons.
Frozen Iraqi Assets
When Saddam invaded Kuwait in August, 1990, Iraqi accounts were frozen in both the U.S. and U.S. banks’ foreign branches. Unfortunately, the approximately $600 million in the U.S. banks’ foreign branches cannot be reached because of jurisdictional issues with the numerous countries where they are located. The Iraqi assets frozen in the United States is available to make a claim against, however, once implementing legislation is enacted. The Treasury Dept.’s Office of Foreign Assets control has given us a calculation of the amount of Iraqi assets which are being held in the U.S. and that will be available to claim against. As of their last calculation, October, 2000, it was $1.587 billion. It increases continuously with interest. Thus it is well over $1.6 billion presently and growing. There are about $5 billion in tobacco company and other corporate claims. If implementing legislation passes, the U.S. Justice Dept. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission will review each Gulf veteran’s claim and assign a value to it. There is obviously not enough money to cover all of the Gulf War veterans’ claims and tobacco industry and corporate claims. There would thus be a pro-rata distribution, unless some priority is given in the law for Gulf War veterans.
Senator Jesse Helms represents North Carolina. The tobacco industry, which is very large in his State, has contributed substantially to his political career for many years. The tobacco corporations are owed a lot of money by Iraq, and they are obviously competing with Gulf War veterans in making a claim against the frozen assets. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX), and other friends of Gulf War veterans in the House of Representatives, blocked an attempt by Senator Helms in 1998 to pass legislation that would have excluded ill Gulf war veterans and given all of the money to the tobacco industry and other corporations. Legislation was then filed by Congressman Doggett that would allow ill Gulf War veterans to make a claim against the frozen Iraqi assets, and give them some priority in the claim process. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously last year. Senator Helms chose to use his Chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at that time, to block the legislation in his committee. He would not let it be voted on by the U.S. Senate. Senator Helms made some suggestion that he was willing to compromise last year but then failed to follow through with it. Senator Helms recently lost his powerful Chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because of a shift in who is the majority party in the Senate. He then announced that he is retiring at the end of his term, which is next year.
Senator Helms was replaced as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by Senator Joseph Biden from Delaware. Senator Biden has been supported by the VFW in the past, and is considered a friend of veterans. The VFW has registered its support for Congressman Doggett’s legislation allowing Gulf War veterans to file claims against the Iraqi assets.
The pending legislation filed by Congressman Doggett expired at the end of the last session of Congress. Congressman Doggett is now gathering co-sponsors for refiling his legislation in the House of Representatives. He is also working to smooth the way for it in the Senate before he officially refiles the bill. He already has 30+ co-sponsors, but he would like to have 50 or more. He anticipates filing the bill within the next six weeks, and assures us that it will be filed before the winter recess.
The bottom line is that the matter is underway; and with some grace, it will become law before I write the next annual report next fall. If the law does comes into being before then, claim forms will be promulgated by the Justice Dept. I will then be writing to you to begin the process of filing your proof of claim with the Justice Dept.
As a post-script, there is also an ongoing discussion to amend the U.N. sanctions on Iraq, which could help the position of Gulf War veterans. As you may know, there is currently a U.N. sanctioned food-for-Iraqi oil program. Since Russia is owed a lot of money by Iraq, they have proposed that Iraq’s oil revenues also be used to liquidate its past debts, under the U.N. program. In July, it was agreed that the present program would be extended unchanged for another five months. It will thus come up for review again at the end of this year. If the Russian proposal is agreed upon and is implemented by the U.N., the competing tobacco and corporate debts would be paid by Iraq, leaving the frozen assets to be claimed against solely by the Gulf War veterans.
The Persian Gulf War Illness Compensation Act of 2001
The outgoing V.A. Secretary, H. Gober, failed to change V.A. procedures based on the Institute of Medicine findings regarding sarin exposure and related medical problems that I wrote to you about in the last annual report. In the meantime, there has been legislation filed that would make the V.A. Secretary’s officially finding the connection with sarin unnecessary, as far as V.A. compensation is concerned. This is the Persian Gulf War Illness Compensation Act of 2001 introduced by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) in the Senate (S. 409), and by Congressmen Donald Manzullo (IL), Ronnie Shaws (MS), and Elton Gallegly (CA) in the House (H.R. 612), in February, 2001.
The bill finds that Gulf War veterans “were potentially exposed during that war to a wide range of biological and chemical agents” and other toxic exposures. This bill extends the deadline for filing, and widens the reach of the undiagnosed illness program, which until now has been extremely restrictive in its application. The bill would establish that “signs or symptoms that may be a manifestation of an undiagnosed illness include the following: (A) Fatigue; (B) Unexplained rashes or other dermatological signs or symptoms; (C) Headache; (D) Muscle pain; (E) Joint pain; (F) Neurological signs or symptoms; (G) Neuropsychological signs or symptoms; (H) Signs or symptoms involving the respiratory system (upper or lower); (I) Sleep disturbances; (J) Gastrointestinal signs or symptoms; (K) Cardiovascular signs or symptoms; (L) Abnormal weight loss; or (M) Menstrual disorders.” The bill basically incorporates the signs and symptoms which medical research has identified as constituting the chronic multi-symptom nature of Gulf War Illness.
H.R. 612, with some small modifications, was incorporated into a larger bill, H.R. 2540. It became Section 202 & 203 of that bill. H.R. 2540 then passed the House 422-0 on July 31, 2001. S. 409 has come out of Committee almost entirely unchanged, and will be coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Assuming that it will pass there, it will then go through a House/Senate Conference Committee to reconcile any differences and then go to the President for signature. We are cautiously optimistic that this legislation will become law in this Congress. This will greatly help Gulf War veterans who have been ill and disabled since the war, and who have gone without assistance from the Veterans Administration for the last decade.
Some of the Medical Research Since the Last Report
1 Jul 00 - The Lancet, Vol. 356, pp. 17-21 - Just as previous research on American Gulf War veterans showed, a study of mortality among British Gulf War veterans showed a higher than average death rate due to accidents.
Aug 00 - Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Vol. 75, pp. 811-19 - Regarding the cause of Gulf War Illness, epidemiological studies and animal research suggest possible synergistic affects to multiple chemical exposures. Microbiological agents are unlikely to be the cause. Psychological factors contribute to some of the illnesses, but their exact role requires further study. Well-controlled research from independent groups is needed to answer the numerous remaining questions.
24 Sep 00 - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 276, pp. 729-33 - Exposure to organophosphates, nerve gas and pesticides, have been implicated in developing Gulf War Illness. Paraoxonase (PON1) present in human blood detoxifies organophosphates. Genetically, some people have more of the PON1 in their blood than others. Those that do not have as much are more greatly affected by exposures to organophosphates, such as sarin nerve gas. A comparison was done of the levels of paraoxonase in 152 British Gulf War veterans with Gulf War Illness and 152 age and gender matched controls. The Gulf War veterans’ paraoxon hydrolysis was found to be more than 50% less than that found in the controls. The conclusion was that a genetic susceptibility to organophosphates may have contributed to the development of Gulf War Illness. This research confirms previous research done by Dr. Robert Haley that found the same relationship between genetic susceptibility to nerve gas exposure and the existence of Gulf War Illness.
Nov 00 - Am. J. of Epidemiology, Vol. 152, pp. 992-1002 - This was a Kansas-wide study of 1,548 Gulf War veterans compared to 482 veterans deployed elsewhere. The chronic multi-symptom illness associated with Gulf War Illness was many times more likely among Gulf War veterans than those deployed elsewhere. The prevalence of Gulf War Illness was lowest among PGW veterans who served on board ship (21%) and highest among those who were in Iraq and/or Kuwait (42%). Among PGW vets who served away from battlefield areas, Gulf War Illness was least prevalent among those who departed the region prior to the war (9%), and most prevalent among those who departed in June or July of 1991 [after the fallout from the bombings & Khamisiyah] (41%).
Dec 00 - The RAND Corporation, under contract with the U.S. government to conduct research, published. A Review of the Scientific Literature as it Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses, Vol. 5: Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents. Its summary states: “Many Gulf War veterans have reported a host of symptoms that could be construed as coming from exposure to chemical or biological weapons. Since low-level exposures could have produced mild clinical signs that could have been overlooked or misinterpreted, it is not possible to rule out low-dose exposure to one or several classes of agents or the possibility of some resultant contribution to some of the symptoms Gulf War veterans have experienced.” (Emphasis supplied.)
01 - Medical Hypotheses, Vol. 56, pp. 155-57 - Gulf War Illness may be the result of combinations of chemical and physiological stressors.
01 - Psychiatry Research, Vol. 102, pp. 175-200 - Robert Haley, M.D., et al, replicated his previous epidemiological research on 249 Gulf War Seabees from Alabama, on 335 Gulf War veterans from north Texas, and again found the apparent syndrome structure of a single Gulf War Syndrome with three variants, thus concluding that a large-scale confirmatory sample survey of Gulf War veterans should be done. This research was supported by the U.S. Army and funded by a grant from the Perot Foundation.
15 Mar 01 - Am. J. of Epidemiology, Vol. 153, p. 604-09 - In a survey of British veterans of the Gulf War (deployed & nondeployed) & Bosnia, it was found that deployment to the Gulf War was strongly associated with prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity.
21 Mar 01 - Reuter’s Health - Stress by itself does not appear to cause chronic fatigue syndrome, according to a consensus panel convened from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Assoc. of Am.
Apr 01 - Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Vol. 23, pp. 240-49 - A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered by eight doctors at the Center for Environmental Hazards Research to 48 veterans with Gulf War Illness and 39 healthy veteran controls. Comparing the two groups, Gulf War veterans were significantly impaired on four tasks: attention, concentration, information processing and abstraction/conceptualization. The results suggest that Gulf War Illness is associated with some aspects of cognitive dysfunction. This confirms research previously done by Dr. Haley and others that reached the same result.
6 Apr 01 - Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Vol. 62, pp. 523-41 - Organophosphate pesticides DEET and permethrin, when combined with the p.b. anti-nerve gas pills, can cause neurological problems in test animals. (Recall that 1992 research showed that unfortunately, the p.b. pills made you more, rather then less, susceptible to damage from exposure to the organophosphate, sarin nerve gas, such as in the gas plume from Khamisiyah.)
4 May 01 - Cell, Vol. 105, p. 369-78 - Some bone barrow stem cells can transform themselves into liver, lung or skin cells, raising the possibility that they can also be transformed into brain or nerve cells, and thus replace cells that have been damaged by chemicals. Until now, the only stem cells proven to be able to produce an array of different other tissues were in early embryos. If the bone marrow stem cells have all of the capacity of embryonic stem cells, this would allow a greater quantity of cells to work with and would avoid the controversial use of embryo cells.
28 May 01 - Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 161, pp. 1289-94 - This study shows that the type of healthcare received by Gulf War veterans presenting with symptoms suggestive of Gulf War Illness appears to depend on the healthcare professional they see. Mental healthcare doctors are more likely to believe that Gulf War Illness is caused by a physical agent, such as a toxic agent. On the other hand, general internal medicine doctors are more likely to believe Gulf War Illness is caused by mental illness. Mental healthcare doctors were three times more likely to recommend biomedical treatments, while internists were three times more likely to recommend psychological treatment. This confusion and lack of consensus among health care providers has obviously been frustrating to Gulf War veterans.
June 01 - Military Medicine, Vol. 166, pp. 510-19 - Epidemiological research leads to the conclusion that Gulf War deployed veterans report lower functional health status compared with a group of Germany deployed veterans and published general U.S. population norms. Compared with the general U.S. population, the Gulf War deployed group median was between the 25th and 50th percentile for physical functioning.
The National Gulf War Resource Center Annual
Convention, Robert Haley, M.D. and Keynote Speaker, H. Ross Perot
In about two weeks, on Friday and Saturday, October 5 & 6, 2001, the Sixth Annual Gulf War Veterans’ Conference will be held in Atlanta, GA. If you wish to register for the conference, you can do so at the National Gulf War Resource Center web site (www.ngwrc.org). Philanthropist and former Presidential candidate, H. Ross Perot, will present the keynote speech. Mr. Perot has personally contributed millions of dollars to Gulf War Illness medical research. Most importantly, he did this years before the Pentagon admitted that widespread low-level chemical warfare exposure had occurred or that Gulf War Illness even existed. Mr. Perot has pressed the government to do the right thing for Gulf War veterans, and has been a valuable friend of all veterans for decades.
Robert Haley, M.D. of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center will also speak at the conference. Dr. Haley and his colleagues are at the forefront of Gulf War Illness medical research in the world. They have done amazing work in identifying and classifying the nature of this chronic multi-symptom illness. Their objective is not only this, but to identify effective treatment.
I will also be at the conference, and I look forward to speaking with you if you are able to come. Even if you cannot come to their conference, you should seriously consider joining the National Gulf War Resource Center, Inc. (NGWRC) as a member. Though the other veterans’ organizations have supported Gulf War veterans’ issues, the NGWRC has been the leading advocate in Washington, D.C. for Gulf War veterans; and it is solely directed to the interests of Gulf War veterans. There is strength in numbers in Washington. The more members they have, the more the government will pay attention to them.
Continued Success in Gulf War DoD Civilian Defense Base Act Litigation
Since my last annual report, I have successfully tried the cases of four more DoD civilian Gulf War veterans. This makes six altogether now. The last four men were manufacturer’s representatives for General Dynamics. They maintained the M1-A1 tanks, the Fox chemical recon. vehicles, or other equipment. All have been ill since the war with Gulf War Illness. Each of their four cases were tried individually before U.S. Administrative Law Judges under the provisions of the Federal worker’s compensation statute, the Defense Base Act. Their employer contested that their exposure in the Persian Gulf caused their illness. They hired a battery of experts in each case to back their contentions. I was able to prove the toxic exposures of these men in the Persian Gulf. I could also prove through testing and medical experts that their illness existed and was probably the result of their toxic exposures. General Dynamics, to its credit, did not appeal the Court’s decisions in these four cases, and is now paying compensation and medical benefits. They have also filed an intervention in the lawsuit against the chemical/biological suppliers, to recover from the defendants the money in compensation and medical benefits that they are now having to pay under the Defense Base Act to these four men. So, in effect, they are now on our side against the defendants.
In conclusion, we can be thankful that there has been great progress over the last four years, in identifying the nature of the illness and the toxic exposures that caused it, and in setting up the framework for providing justice for Gulf War veterans. The fight will go on for effective treatment and effective justice and in this new war thrust upon us. All of these things will take longer than we wish, but will be done because we must.
With best regards, I remain
Gary B. Pitts
p.s.: Other Websites That May Be of Interest to You:
www.rand.org/publications/electronic/mpth.html#gulf - RAND corporation’s
Gulf War Illness studies are now complete and online
(go to the bottom 1/5 of this starting web page)
www.cdc.gov/nceh/meetings/1999/gulfwar/#conference
The transcripts of the meeting, The Health Impact of Chemical Exposures During the Gulf War-Planning Conference, held in Atlanta on 2/28 - 3/2/99, sponsored by the Dept. of Health & Human Services & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Sites hosted by two of your fellow plaintiffs:
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