Gulf War Vets and Mystery Illness

Re “Persian Gulf War Spawns Enduring Medical Mystery, Anger by Vets,” Nov. 24:

Gulf War vets are battling the same bureaucratic demons people in California face whenever they protest the adverse health effects of low-dose exposure to poisons used by agribusiness. Masters of spin and deception, local, state and federal governments use these strategies to protect themselves and powerful industries that manufacture and use controversial chemicals from public wrath.

Like Californians, veterans are told that their illnesses are psychosomatic, contradicting hundreds of studies that reveal a compelling correlation between what ails them and low-level exposure to poisons, such as sarin, released into the atmosphere when Iraqi munitions bunkers were fired on.

Independent review of the Pentagon’s investigation was denied, and the syndrome is now conveniently considered a “medical mystery.”

Telling the truth about low-level exposure would result in wholesale indictment of chemical industry research, federal safety standards, and widespread use of toxic chemicals in this country and abroad.

TERRI GAISHIN

Camarillo