Reuters: Perot, Congressmen in UK re:Gulf War Dx

Subject: Reuters: Perot, Congressmen in UK re:Gulf War Dx
Date:     Wed, 19 Jun 2002 07:14:33 -0400
From:      Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation

LONDON - A young mother and widow of a British Gulf War veteran fought back tears yesterday as she told an unprecedented United States Congressional hearing of the emptiness in her life after the early death of her husband.

Samantha Thompson, whose husband Nigel - an ex Royal Navy serviceman - died in January, told the hearing on Gulf War Syndrome that Nigel was sure he would succumb to the cocktail of chemicals he was exposed to during the 1991 conflict.

A panel of three congressmen and former U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot - in London for the first ever hearing by a U.S. congressional committee in the British parliament - said they were
determined that Thompson's death and the suffering of thousands of other veterans would not go unrecognised.

"The gulf war was a chemical cesspool," independent Congressman Bernie Sanders said in his opening remarks.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said Gulf War service personnel were almost twice as likely as other veterans to develop the fatal neurological ailment Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, known as Motor Neurone Disease in Britain.

This was the first official acknowledgement of a scientific link between Gulf War service and a specific disease.

Perot, a Texas billionaire who has funded research into Gulf War illness, expressed anger at the attitudes of the UK and U.S. political and medical establishments which have tended to put the sickness down to the stresses and strains of warfare.

"This is not stress. This is troops in combat wounded by chemical agents," he said, calling for an immediate change of attitude to those who fought and were now dying for their countries. "We need action this day."

Perot and Shays were scheduled today to give a presentation to British parliamentarians on progress being made in the U.S. to identify the causes of Gulf War illness.

If you would like to be included in our mailing list for continuing information on pesticides, Email Us..

Nontoxic Products Recommended by Steve Tvedten

Now Available

Safe 2 Use Products and Services