GULF VETS operations iraqi freedom/ enduring freedom review Vol. 2, No. 1 Information for Veterans Who Served in Iraq and Afghanistan February 2005 and Their Families The IOM completed two earlier comprehensive Perlin on Challenges Facing VA in 2005 reviews: Gulf War and Health, Volume 1: Depleted Uranium, Pyridostigmine Bromide, Sarin, and Vaccines Foremost among the and Gulf War and Health (2000); and Volume 2: challenges we face in Insecticides and Solvents (2003). More recently, 2005 is our continuing IOM also conducted and released an update of the effort to improve the sarin review, entitled Gulf War and Health: Updated service we provide to our Literature Review of Sarin. Nation’s newest veterans, The latest release examines the possible health effects especially those who return of hydrazines and red fuming nitric acid (used in rocket ill or injured from Iraq fuel), hydrogen sulfide, oil-fire byproducts, diesel-heater and Afghanistan. fumes, and fuels (for example, jet fuels, and gasoline). (Continued on page 2.) Excerpt from a letter, dated January 4, 2005, to all Veterans Health Administration employees from Jonathan B. Perlin, Also in This Issue Acting Under Secretary for Health (the top ranking medical official in VA). Two New VA Brochures Highlight Health Care and Assis- tance for Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom Veterans ....... 2 Jonathan B. Perlin Registry Statistics ............................................................ 2 Acting Under Secretary for Health Research Advisory Committee Issues Report, VA Announces Additional Funding for Research of Gulf New Report on Health Effects from Fuels, War Illnesses .................................................................... 2 Combustion Products, and Propellants VA Vet Centers Break Down Barriers to Care for On Monday, December 20, 2004, the independent Veterans with Readjustment Problems.............................. 3 National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine VA Gulf War Programs Recognized for Outstanding (IOM) issued the third volume in a series of reports Service to Veterans .......................................................... 4 called Gulf War and Health. The 500+ page report Readers’ Survey ................................................................ 5 looked at scientific evidence to reach conclusions about Conclusions from the First Gulf War: After More possible connections between certain exposures and Than 10 Years of Gulf War Veterans Medical health problems. Evaluations, What Have We Learned? ............................. 6 Background Q’s and A’s ...................................................................... 6 In 1998, Congress passed legislation (actually Ionizing Radiation Brief Fact Sheets Available, two separate laws: Public Laws 105-277, and 105- One on Depleted Uranium ............................................... 7 368), which directed VA to contract with the National What’s New in Depleted Uranium and Health ................. 8 Academy of Sciences for an evaluation of the scientific About the “Review” ......................................................... 8 and medical literature regarding associations between Clarification ...................................................................... 8 illness and exposure to toxic agents to environmental or wartime hazards, and medicines or vaccinations Information on VA Disability Compensation………….....9 associated with service in the 1990-91 Gulf War. While Address Changes and Duplicates.......................................9 Congress had veterans of the 1990-91 conflict in mind WRIISCs Ready to Help OIF and OEF Veterans ........... 10 when the legislation was enacted, we have included Delays Enable Increased Printing and Distribution this information on the OIF/EF Review because it is of Newsletter................................................................... 10 likely that many of the more recent veterans had similar Where to Get Additional Information and exposures. Assistance........................................................................ 11 1 Department of Veterans Affairs (Continued from page 1.) The Afghanistan brochure contains similar Committee Conclusions information about veterans who served in Operation The committee established by IOM to consider Enduring Freedom. It is entitled, Enduring Freedom these exposures concluded that there is some evidence Veterans: Information for Veterans Who Served in linking combustion products (such as “smog”) and Afghanistan and For Their Families. It is identified as lung cancer. The committee found limited evidence IB 10-71 Revised, December 2004. Copies are on the linking combustion product exposure and cancers at internet at www.VA.gov/EnvironAgents, and at most several other sites (oral, nasal, laryngeal, and bladder), VA facilities. asthma, and two reproductive outcomes after exposure Both publications are available from the during pregnancy: preterm birth and low birthweight or Environmental Agents Service (131), 810 Vermont intrauterine growth retardation. Avenue, N.W, Washington, DC 20420. Please indicate For the propellant components of Scuds, only which publication you want, and the quantity sought. hydrazines were found to have a suggestive association There is no charge for these publications. with lung cancer, although these were apparently not used as fuels during the 1991 war in Iraq. For Registry Statistics additional information regarding these conclusions, see their website: www.nap.edu. Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans VA Response Initial Examinations through 2003 – 80 VA is currently examining the report in the form of Initial Examinations through 2004 – 1,125 “prepublication copy-uncorrected proofs” to determine Total Examinations, including followup what action is warranted by the report, that is whether examinations through 2004 – 1,128 the regulations governing disability compensation or Total Examinations in January 2005 – 33 other aspects of VA policy need to be modified in light Total Agent Orange Registry Examinations – 415,461 of their conclusions. January 2005 Agent Orange Registry Further Reports Examinations – 2,115 In accordance with the laws mentioned above, IOM Operation Enduring Freedom Veterans are not eligible is planning further reports on potential health hazards for a Registry examination, but may qualify for a similar encountered by U.S. troops in Southwest Asia. examination. Contact the nearest VA medical center for Two New VA Brochures Highlight details. Health Care and Assistance for Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom Veterans Research Advisory Committee Issues In December 2004, VA released two brochures for Report, VA Announces Additional veterans of the military conflicts in Iraqi and Afghanistan. Funding for Research on Gulf War The 6-page Iraqi Freedom publication describes some of Veterans Illnesses the health risks to U.S. service members serving in Iraqi On the day following Veterans Day 1994, Secretary of in 2003-2004 and beyond. These include environmental Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi announced approval health hazards, infectious diseases, such as, leishmaniasis, for up to $15 million in additional research funding for preventive measures, pesticides and health, deployment Gulf War illnesses. “We still don’t have a definite cause stress, and deployment-related health effects. for Gulf War illnesses.” Principi said. “There has to be This fact sheet also includes information about VA a reason why some of our veterans came home healthy, health care services, research, and disability compensation. while others serving along side them did not.” It also provides information about other sources of informa- Principi’s announcement coincided with the release of tion on this subject. The publication is formally known as a 143-page report, entitled Scientific Progress in Under- Information Bulletin (or IB) 10-166 Revised, December standing Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses: Report and Recom- 2004, Iraqi Freedom Veterans: Information for Veterans mendations of the Department of Veterans Affairs Research Who Served in Iraq in 2003-2004 and Beyond and Their Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses. Families. It replaces a similar brochure on veterans of the first Gulf War. It has been available online at www.VA.gov/ The Committee, authorized by Section 4, Public Law GulfWar. Copies can also be obtained at the local VA 105-368, and appointed by Secretary Principi in 2002, medical centers, VA regional Office, and the Vet Centers. 2 offered 10 findings and more than 4 dozen recommenda- As the scope expanded, so did the number of sites tions, including a recommendation that 15 million dollars where veterans could get help. In 1980, only a year after be specifically added to VA’s current research and develop- the centers first opened, there were 91 vet centers. Ten ment budget in support of a Gulf War illnesses research years later, in 1990, there were a total of 201 vet centers. program. Five additional locations subsequently were added. VA The funding commitment represents the VA’s single Vet Center officials indicate that the program has helped largest set-aside of research funding for a specific area of more than 1.1 million veterans since October 1992. investigation and could make up about 20 percent of VA’s PTSD and Military Service new research grants awards for FY 2005. During the past decade, VA has spent more than $50 million for research The Vet Centers’ priority is readjustment counseling, into Gulf War veterans’ illnesses. Much of that research