http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,111575,00.html
Vets Exposed to Radiation Lose Ruling
Knight Ridder | August 28, 2006
WASHINGTON - Radiation exposure took Alice Broudy's husband a generation ago.
This week, a court ruling sliced away at her bid for redress.
In a quiet ruling that nonetheless resonates nationwide, a federal appellate court rejected efforts by Broudy and others seeking claims on behalf of "atomic veterans." The same court simultaneously rejected bids by other veterans exposed to biological and chemical agents.
Taken together, the dual rulings by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will likely impede many veterans hoping for compensation. At the very least, it will complicate future claims.
"It's a significant ruling," Washington-based attorney David Cynamon, who represented veterans in both cases, said Friday. "Unfortunately, it's a significantly bad ruling."
A Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman couldn't be reached to comment.
Broudy, a resident of California's Orange County, has long been seeking full compensation for the death of her husband, a Marine major who was repeatedly exposed to radiation. She has company.
George Woodward, who lives north of Wichita, Kan., in the town of Miltonvale, was exposed to radiation during a 1955 test blast. Kathy Jacobovitch, a resident of Vashon Island, Wash., lost her father through exposure to contaminated ships in Puget Sound. Ernest Kirchmann, a 62-year-old Navy veteran who lives south of Minneapolis in tiny West Concord, who's filed a separate lawsuit, was exposed during a 1964 nuclear submarine accident.
"It isn't just my personal case," Broudy said Friday. "It's the entire veterans community. It makes me so angry."
Broudy married her husband, Charles, in 1948. Three years earlier, he'd walked the war-poisoned streets of Nagasaki. Within a decade, he was facing radiation in the Nevada desert. He died of lymphatic cancer in 1977. Though she has since received partial compensation, Broudy has been confronting the federal government for more. She has now lost three separate lawsuits.
"This closes the door," Cynamon said of the latest appellate court ruling, which was issued Wednesday. "It will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for individuals who are victimized by government cover-ups."
All told, an estimated 220,000 U.S. soldiers were allegedly exposed to radiation in the 1940s and 1950s. Some, such as William Yurdyga of Sacramento, Calif., claimed in an earlier lawsuit that they were exposed following the Hiroshima or Nagasaki atomic blast. Others claimed exposure during Cold War testing.
The three-member appellate panel wasn't ruling on whether the atomic veterans deserve compensation. A 1988 law provides that. To succeed, though, veterans must prove they were present at a radioactive site and that they contracted a radiation-related illness or were exposed to a cancer-causing radiation level.
Required military test records can be elusive. A 1973 fire destroyed many veterans' records, and veterans consider alternative "dose reconstruction" estimates inaccurate.
"You send a Freedom of Information Act request," Broudy said, "and you wait and you wait and you wait, and then maybe you get a piece of it, or you get nothing at all because they say it's classified."
The latest lawsuit sought to force Pentagon officials to release all relevant records. In the opinion written by Appellate Judge Thomas Griffith, appointed by President Bush last year, the court panel agreed unanimously that atomic veterans couldn't compel a massive release of all the Pentagon's relevant documents.
Instead, individual veterans must file individual claims.
If the Pentagon is "covering up records of medical tests that describe the amount of radiation to which these veterans were exposed, FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) provides a potential remedy," Griffith wrote.
A new study by Melinda Podgor for the Elder Law Journal found that 18,275 atomic veterans had filed for compensation as of October 2004. Only 1,875 claims were granted.
On a separate but related legal track, veterans such as Columbia, S.C., resident John Goricki and Homestead, Fla., resident Richard B. Holmes were pursuing claims following exposure during the Shipboard Hazard and Defense project of the 1950s and 1960s.
Project SHAD allegedly exposed up to 10,000 soldiers and sailors to biological and chemical agents. Like the atomic veterans, SHAD survivors claim that the Pentagon clings to secret information. Like the atomic veterans, they couldn't persuade the appellate court to order the release of all relevant documents.
The veterans "can still seek, through FOIA, the documents they believe they need to pursue their benefits claims," the appellate panel ruled.
Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion.
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Full Version: Vets Exposed to Radiation Lose Ruling
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > U.S. Military Issues > U.S. Military Issues Archive
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Aug 29 2006, 12:19 AM)
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,111575,00.html
Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion.
Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion.
Here's the forum link mentioned in the article.
http://forums.military.com/1/OpenTopic?a=d...,111575,00.html
And here's a related discussion
http://boards.live.com/MSNBCboards/thread....?ThreadID=83484
Gulf War syndrome controversy: What do you think?
436 messages - 287 authors - last updated 09/13/06 01:37 PM
posted at the end of this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14801666/
Study: Gulf War syndrome doesn't exist
VA-funded report unable to find evidence of complex of symptoms
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:13 p.m. ET Sept 13, 2006
WASHINGTON - There is no such thing as Gulf War syndrome, even though U.S. and foreign veterans of the war report more symptoms of illness than do soldiers who didn't serve there, a federally funded study concludes.
U.S. and foreign veterans of the Gulf War do suffer from an array of very real problems, according to the Veterans Administration-sponsored report released Tuesday.
Yet there is no one complex of symptoms to suggest those veterans — nearly 30 percent of all those who served — suffered or still suffer from a single identifiable syndrome.
"There's no unique pattern of symptoms. Every pattern identified in Gulf War veterans also seems to exist in other veterans, though it is important to note the symptom rate is higher, and it is a serious issue," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, of Johns Hopkins University, who headed the Institute of Medicine committee that prepared the report.
The VA contracted with the institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences, to review scientific studies and probe the issue at the direction of Congress.
Disability benefits at issue
Tuesday's report is the latest in the important series, which the VA will rely on to determine whether Gulf War veterans are eligible for special disability benefits if they are found to suffer from illnesses that can be linked to their service.
Veterans can now claim those benefits only by making an undiagnosed illness claim, said Steve Robinson, a Gulf War Army veteran and government relations director for Veterans for America.
"They keep saying it over and over, every year. We know that — we know that there is no single thing that made veterans sick. We know this thing is likely a combination of various exposures," Robinson said in pushing for new studies he hopes will find what ails tens of thousands of his fellow vets.
A member of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, also chartered by Congress, called the report the "first step" in cataloging the studies done on veterans of the conflict.
"But the most prevalent problems in Gulf War veterans are the multisymptom illness/Gulf War syndrome-type problems that still affect a sizable proportion of those who served in the war. I am disappointed that the IOM report does little to analyze what these studies collectively tell us about the nature and causes of these conditions," said Lea Steele, a Kansas State University epidemiologist who is the committee's scientific director.
Soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf following the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait in August 1990 have reported symptoms that include fatigue, memory loss, muscle and joint pain, rashes and difficulty sleeping. But not all suffer from the same array of symptoms, which has complicated efforts to pinpoint their cause, according to the report.
Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Phil Budahn said the VA would not comment until it had a chance to study the report. The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States also was reviewing the study.
Toxic exposures
Nearly 700,000 U.S. soldiers, along with troops from 34 other countries, took part in the Gulf War. Once in the region, those soldiers were exposed to a wide array of toxins and other potential health hazards, including smoke from hundreds of oil well fires, pesticides, depleted uranium ammunition and possibly the nerve agent sarin, released during the demolition of a munitions dump.
Inadequate screening of soldiers before deployment in the Gulf War, coupled with a lack of environmental monitoring during the conflict, have hindered efforts to determine whether exposure to those contaminants is linked to any illness, the report also notes.
For years, the government denied the mysterious illnesses were linked to the war. It now acknowledges that at least some were due to wartime service. The government is no longer pointing to stress as the likely reason, as some federally funded studies had suggested.
The new report did find evidence of an elevated risk of the rare nerve disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, among Gulf War veterans. They also face an increased risk of anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse, it said.
http://boards.live.com/MSNBCboards/thread....?ThreadID=83484
Gulf War syndrome controversy: What do you think?
436 messages - 287 authors - last updated 09/13/06 01:37 PM
posted at the end of this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14801666/
Study: Gulf War syndrome doesn't exist
VA-funded report unable to find evidence of complex of symptoms
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:13 p.m. ET Sept 13, 2006
WASHINGTON - There is no such thing as Gulf War syndrome, even though U.S. and foreign veterans of the war report more symptoms of illness than do soldiers who didn't serve there, a federally funded study concludes.
U.S. and foreign veterans of the Gulf War do suffer from an array of very real problems, according to the Veterans Administration-sponsored report released Tuesday.
Yet there is no one complex of symptoms to suggest those veterans — nearly 30 percent of all those who served — suffered or still suffer from a single identifiable syndrome.
"There's no unique pattern of symptoms. Every pattern identified in Gulf War veterans also seems to exist in other veterans, though it is important to note the symptom rate is higher, and it is a serious issue," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, of Johns Hopkins University, who headed the Institute of Medicine committee that prepared the report.
The VA contracted with the institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences, to review scientific studies and probe the issue at the direction of Congress.
Disability benefits at issue
Tuesday's report is the latest in the important series, which the VA will rely on to determine whether Gulf War veterans are eligible for special disability benefits if they are found to suffer from illnesses that can be linked to their service.
Veterans can now claim those benefits only by making an undiagnosed illness claim, said Steve Robinson, a Gulf War Army veteran and government relations director for Veterans for America.
"They keep saying it over and over, every year. We know that — we know that there is no single thing that made veterans sick. We know this thing is likely a combination of various exposures," Robinson said in pushing for new studies he hopes will find what ails tens of thousands of his fellow vets.
A member of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, also chartered by Congress, called the report the "first step" in cataloging the studies done on veterans of the conflict.
"But the most prevalent problems in Gulf War veterans are the multisymptom illness/Gulf War syndrome-type problems that still affect a sizable proportion of those who served in the war. I am disappointed that the IOM report does little to analyze what these studies collectively tell us about the nature and causes of these conditions," said Lea Steele, a Kansas State University epidemiologist who is the committee's scientific director.
Soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf following the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait in August 1990 have reported symptoms that include fatigue, memory loss, muscle and joint pain, rashes and difficulty sleeping. But not all suffer from the same array of symptoms, which has complicated efforts to pinpoint their cause, according to the report.
Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Phil Budahn said the VA would not comment until it had a chance to study the report. The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States also was reviewing the study.
Toxic exposures
Nearly 700,000 U.S. soldiers, along with troops from 34 other countries, took part in the Gulf War. Once in the region, those soldiers were exposed to a wide array of toxins and other potential health hazards, including smoke from hundreds of oil well fires, pesticides, depleted uranium ammunition and possibly the nerve agent sarin, released during the demolition of a munitions dump.
Inadequate screening of soldiers before deployment in the Gulf War, coupled with a lack of environmental monitoring during the conflict, have hindered efforts to determine whether exposure to those contaminants is linked to any illness, the report also notes.
For years, the government denied the mysterious illnesses were linked to the war. It now acknowledges that at least some were due to wartime service. The government is no longer pointing to stress as the likely reason, as some federally funded studies had suggested.
The new report did find evidence of an elevated risk of the rare nerve disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, among Gulf War veterans. They also face an increased risk of anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse, it said.
Well, the biggest problem we have with Gulf War Syndrome is a wide variety of symptoms being reported. They can't pen it down to any one ailment. And there isn't any pattern in who gets sick and who doesn't.
I knew some people who came back and latter developed an illness. The few cases I saw the symptoms I saw I'd attribute to exposure to a nerve gas agent. The problem I saw though saying it was from being in the Persian Gulf is it was years latter when these symptoms appeared. Nerve gas does not work that way.
I knew some people who came back and latter developed an illness. The few cases I saw the symptoms I saw I'd attribute to exposure to a nerve gas agent. The problem I saw though saying it was from being in the Persian Gulf is it was years latter when these symptoms appeared. Nerve gas does not work that way.
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%20newsflashe...9-14-2006-3.htm
LEGION SAYS GULF WAR SYNDROME STORY NOT BREAKING NEWS
Calls reports misleading because veterans are ill even if
the malady doesn't have an official name
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "Recent media reports that Gulf War Syndrome doesn't exist are misleading and masks the fact that even though ongoing maladies being experienced by Gulf War veterans may not have a scientific name they certainly do exist," said Paul A. Morin, national commander of The American Legion.
"The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) recent report on the health of Gulf War veterans is basically a summary of existing peer- reviewed research and the committee's findings. The most contentious, which some media are just now reporting on, is the conclusion that there is no Gulf War Syndrome," Morin said.
"This is not breaking news within the veterans community, but it does warrant more explanation because of the misleading headlines."
The committee indicated that available research, collectively, indicated there is no cluster of illnesses that could be attributed to a single source and that there were no illnesses unique to those who were deployed to the Persian Gulf during U.S. operations there in the early 1990s.
The same research again stated that Gulf War veterans are sicker than other non-deployed veterans and the IOM committee could not determine a reason for it, and that unexplained illnesses are the most prevalent health outcome of service in the Gulf War.
The report also recommended that the Department of Veterans Affairs provide surveillance for specific adverse health outcomes, such as cancer, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, birth defects, adverse pregnancy outcomes, post-deployment psychiatric illnesses.
Although this report does not provide any new recommendations that are beneficial to 1991 Gulf War veterans, it is the second report congressionally mandated to provide recommendations to the Secretary of the VA on the health of Gulf War veterans to indicate that they are sicker than their non-deployed counterparts.
"What is important, and has been well documented, is that Gulf War veterans are sicker, even if no one can conclusively declare why this is so," said Morin "The American Legion's priority on this issue is to make sure additional funding and effective treatments are made available to help alleviate any suffering service member's symptoms," he said.
The Legion also reinforced the call for benefits to be awarded for illnesses that are found to be related to military service in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
VA has recently dedicated up to $15 million to identify effective treatments for ill Gulf War veterans. The American Legion again will request that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs address the ailments that the IOM have associated with symptoms identified in the report.
"If existing research has not been able to provide the VA with adequate knowledge to effectively treat ill Gulf War veterans, then the VA needs to ensure that finding effective treatments is made a top priority," said Morin
---
Founded in 1919, the 2.7 million-member American Legion is the nation's largest service organization for veterans of the U.S. armed forces, including active duty, National Guard and Reserves, and their families. A powerful voice for veterans in Washington, The American Legion drafted the original GI Bill and was instrumental in establishing the agency that today is the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
---------------
Original link to site from
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...ess=364x2138597
LEGION SAYS GULF WAR SYNDROME STORY NOT BREAKING NEWS
Calls reports misleading because veterans are ill even if
the malady doesn't have an official name
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "Recent media reports that Gulf War Syndrome doesn't exist are misleading and masks the fact that even though ongoing maladies being experienced by Gulf War veterans may not have a scientific name they certainly do exist," said Paul A. Morin, national commander of The American Legion.
"The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) recent report on the health of Gulf War veterans is basically a summary of existing peer- reviewed research and the committee's findings. The most contentious, which some media are just now reporting on, is the conclusion that there is no Gulf War Syndrome," Morin said.
"This is not breaking news within the veterans community, but it does warrant more explanation because of the misleading headlines."
The committee indicated that available research, collectively, indicated there is no cluster of illnesses that could be attributed to a single source and that there were no illnesses unique to those who were deployed to the Persian Gulf during U.S. operations there in the early 1990s.
The same research again stated that Gulf War veterans are sicker than other non-deployed veterans and the IOM committee could not determine a reason for it, and that unexplained illnesses are the most prevalent health outcome of service in the Gulf War.
The report also recommended that the Department of Veterans Affairs provide surveillance for specific adverse health outcomes, such as cancer, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, birth defects, adverse pregnancy outcomes, post-deployment psychiatric illnesses.
Although this report does not provide any new recommendations that are beneficial to 1991 Gulf War veterans, it is the second report congressionally mandated to provide recommendations to the Secretary of the VA on the health of Gulf War veterans to indicate that they are sicker than their non-deployed counterparts.
"What is important, and has been well documented, is that Gulf War veterans are sicker, even if no one can conclusively declare why this is so," said Morin "The American Legion's priority on this issue is to make sure additional funding and effective treatments are made available to help alleviate any suffering service member's symptoms," he said.
The Legion also reinforced the call for benefits to be awarded for illnesses that are found to be related to military service in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
VA has recently dedicated up to $15 million to identify effective treatments for ill Gulf War veterans. The American Legion again will request that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs address the ailments that the IOM have associated with symptoms identified in the report.
"If existing research has not been able to provide the VA with adequate knowledge to effectively treat ill Gulf War veterans, then the VA needs to ensure that finding effective treatments is made a top priority," said Morin
---
Founded in 1919, the 2.7 million-member American Legion is the nation's largest service organization for veterans of the U.S. armed forces, including active duty, National Guard and Reserves, and their families. A powerful voice for veterans in Washington, The American Legion drafted the original GI Bill and was instrumental in establishing the agency that today is the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
---------------
Original link to site from
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...ess=364x2138597
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