Gulf War Syndrome

Ruling Raises Hope for Sick Gulf War Soldiers


Campaigner Tony Flint now wants the MoD to take heed of Lord Lloyd's proposals


An independent inquiry into Gulf War illnesses has called on the Ministry of Defence finally to accept that thousands of veterans had suffered ill health as a result of their service in the 1991 conflict.

The inquiry, headed by the former law lord Lord Lloyd of Berwick, said that there was "every reason" to accept the existence of a "Gulf War syndrome".

It said that the MoD should now set up a special fund to make compensation payments to those veterans who had suffered as a result of their service in the war to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein.

The report said all the scientific studies agreed Gulf veterans were twice as likely to suffer from ill health as if they had been deployed elsewhere.


It accepted the illnesses suffered by the veterans were likely to be due to a combination of causes - including multiple injections of vaccines; the use of organophosphate pesticides to spray tents; low-level exposure to nerve gas; and the inhalation of depleted uranium dust.

While it said further research was needed, the inquiry said that was not a reason for the MoD not to accept now that the illnesses were a result of service in the Gulf.

"Since the Gulf veterans were twice as likely to become ill as if they had stayed in the UK, the Government ought now, in fairness, and not before time, to accept that the illnesses of those who were deployed to the Gulf were caused by their deployment," the report said.


"May their illnesses be described as a syndrome? Yes. The symptoms are not unique. They are not even very unusual. What is unusual is the extent and intensity of the symptoms.

"They were twice as likely to occur among those who went to the Gulf when compared with those that remained behind.

"There is therefore every reason to call the illnesses by the label 'Gulf War syndrome'."

Tony Flint, of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said the report conclusions justified what the veterans had been saying about Gulf War syndrome for years.

He said it was now time for the MoD to take heed of Lord Lloyd's proposals and compensate the veterans for the illnesses they have suffered.

"The report was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,'' said Mr Flint. "And to have Gulf War syndrome recognised means a hell of a lot to us.

"We call on the Ministry of Defence to accept the conclusions of the committee and take on board its recommendations."

and the time its taken too

The lengths our Government will go to, to avoid compensating these poor soldiers beggars belief

I sincerely hope they will not wriggle out of this one, now the report has been published.

libs

i am sure they will

They do what every they like.

That's what I like to see.........positive thinking

libs

lol

they are treated like crap arent they ?