Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Gulf War Syndrome, Long Denied, Shown to Have Neurological Basis

Gulf War veterans show abnormalities in scans of their brains by Sara ReardonNew  York Times, Tuesday, March 26 http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/gulf-war-veterans-show-abnormalities-in-scans-of-their-brains/2013/03/25/2da39138-926c-11e2-9cfd-36d6c9b5d7ad_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

[Excerpted] Now an imaging study has found that these veterans have what appear to be unique structural changes in the wiring of their brains. This fits with the scientific consensus that Gulf War Syndrome, or GWS, is a physical condition rather than a psychosomatic one and should be treated with painkilling drugs instead of counseling.

Military authorities in various countries consistently denied in the past that there was a physical basis to GWS. Although the Department of Veterans Affairs now accepts that the disorder is physical, the issue has been mired in controversy.

Steven Coughlin, a former senior epidemiologist at Veterans Affairs, testified this month before a congressional panel that the VA had suppressed and manipulated research data so as to suggest that the disorder was psychosomatic....

 

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