Pesticides and Gulf War Syndrome

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Subject:  Pesticides and Gulf War Syndrome
Date:     Sat, 22 Jun 2002 11:14:54 -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 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

C-Span 2 Book TV will broadcast a program on Alison Johnson's book Gulf War Syndrome: Legacy of a Perfect War on Saturday, June 22, at 5:15 P.M. EST (4:15 CST, 3:15 MST, 2:15 PST).  The program includes Johnson reading passages from her book as well as seven Gulf War veterans or their relatives reading their stories as they appear in Part II of her book.  The program also includes brief clips from Johnson's video Gulf War Syndrome: Aftermath of a Toxic Battlefield.  This program will probably be rebroadcast on a few succeeding weekends.  Visit the website <<www.booktv.org>> on any Thursday to see listings for the following weekend.  For information about ordering the book or video, see <<www.conceptmed.com/Johnson>>.

Note to the chemically sensitive: Because this program includes many references to chemical sensitivity or problems with pesticides,  I think it is worth asking your family and friends to watch it because they may be more sympathetic to your problems when they hear Gulf War veterans describing their sensitivity to things like perfume.  Diane Dulka, whose husband Joseph died of pancreatic cancer three years after the war, will read a passage describing how he spent 12 hours a day spraying lindane on Iraqi prisoners in a closed tent to delouse them.  Another section she will read states: "Another thing that seemed unusual was that he had developed a strong sensitivity to odors.  He just couldn't stand to smell things like perfume or pesticide or gasoline." Bobby Lawson's segment will include this passage: "I'm sensitive to a lot of chemicals now too.  There's many times when I walk into a department store or a place like that, and I smell an odor and my body would just react.  I have to leave right away because I start shaking and sweating."   Pat Browning states during the program: "Since I've returned from the Gulf War I can't be around paint fumes; they make me really sick.  Bleach also bothers me now, and I can no longer wear perfume."

The program also includes the stories of two veterans with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) who attribute an exposure to pesticide as putting them over the edge from Gulf War syndrome to ALS.

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