Lourdes Salvador's Column ...Co-founder of MCS America discusses the latest Multiple Chemical Sensitivity issues.

Pesticides & Nerve Agents Sicked Gulf War Veterans

 

by Lourdes Salvador

 

 

Mounting evidence has shown that exposure to pesticides and nerve agents, such as organophosphate and carbamate acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEis), is linked to Gulf War Illness.

 

Scientists at Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego suggest that exposure to these agents is the likely cause of excess health problems seen in Gulf War Illness (Golomb, 2008).

 

Gulf War Illness is a syndrome reported by combat veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

 

Symptoms include chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, indigestion, memory problems, muscular aches and pains, headache, dizziness, loss of balance, shortness of breath, and skin irritation.

 

An increase of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, eczema, and dyspepsia has been shown in deployed veterans when compared to non-deployed veterans (Eisen et al, 2005). This would indicate that Gulf War Illness is correlated to deployment.

 

Deployed veterans may have been exposed to nerve gas and pesticides in the course of duty.

 

Scientific evidence has linked occupational exposure to these agents to chronic health symptoms that mirror those of Gulf War Illness.

 

Gulf War Illness is also linked to less efficient detoxification of these agents. Lower amounts of detoxifying enzymes and/or certain genotypes precipitate slower detoxification.

 

Gulf War Illness is very similar to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivity. Pesticides have also been linked to these illnesses in various studies. This would indicate that Gulf War Illness, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivity may share a common cause… pesticides.

 

Pesticides are poorly regulated and often applied without regard for label instructions, which can lead to overexposure and ultimately ill health effects. There are many natural alternatives to harmful pesticides including keeping things neat and clean, employing integrative pest control, and choosing less toxic substances to eliminate pests.

 

Triclosan, also a registered pesticide, is an ingredient in common hand sanitizers which have claimed widespread use and increase exposure to this harmful chemical. Simple soap and water kills the same amount of germs without Triclosan.

 

The best cure is prevention.

 

References:

 

Eisen SA, Kang HK, Murphy FM, Blanchard MS, Reda DJ, Henderson WG, Toomey R, Jackson LW, Alpern R, Parks BJ, Klimas N, Hall C, Pak HS, Hunter J, Karlinsky J, Battistone MJ, Lyons MJ. Gulf War veterans' health: medical evaluation of a U.S. cohort. Ann Intern Med. 2005 Jun 7;142(11):881-90.

 

Golomb, BA. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and Gulf War illnesses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. March 10, 2008.

 

 

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written by Todd Teeuwe, June 09, 2009

I was right on the front lines from the get go in Desert sheld- Storm and then drove an 8-wheel drive monster truck through the "breach" and into Iraq with a load of depelted Urainium shells ending up at Safwan Iraq guarding the peace talks in early March 1991 "In the tent". I was within five miles of this historic event, also at this time all around my location US Army E.O.D was entrentched in destroying every trace of Iraqi munitions around the clock for 7days, when suddenly, on the third day of this so called "cease fire", everyone looked up in broad daylight at what first looked like a hovering disk that was slowly rising in the distance, then we all realized it was just a big smoke ring that would finally rise up too over 20 thousand feet straight up as it got so big over head that it filled the seeable sky it was so still that it lasted for over an hour easily. I also noted that the Jet stream was the only thing that caught it and blew it away it was so high and still. If Any small amounts of misidentified chemical weapons were mixed in with normal munitions and detonated in this time period, it would have defused out into the battle field evenly and micro dosed everyone, period. Even the generals in that tent. My hand was sweating on my mask case flap the entire time as i watched the ring slowly and perfectly rise up into the stratous. Never a MOP 4 (with mask mounted on face) called the entire war wherever I was located, just MOP 3's status and the charcoal suit, even when early in the war they couldnt get chemical alarms to stay silent they would turn them off, just to tell the rest of the Company the cause was desiel vapor and smoke? I rolled my eyes at the time and noted that i was going to pay for this war at some point even with the way we anihalated them, because there was no way to protect us with these suits and the masks which we never put on. 2/16 Infantry(Rangers) should be noted in history as being gassed During the first gulf war, and not just for bull dozing over thousands of Saddams cowering troops. Those alarms struck more fear into the subconcious that apparently comes out later in life than anyone who never experienced it will ever know and Never ever talk about Desert storm syndrome at the VA because its a dirty word. Rangers Sir!

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