A decade ago, Time Magazine reported on the unexplained symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, even daring to hint that the Pentagon was being less than forthcoming;

Researchers have been probing Gulf War syndrome since late 1991, when returning soldiers reported a spate of mysterious maladies. Conclusions have been slow to arrive. Last June the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed that Gulf vets were unusually susceptible to a dozen ailments–from rashes to incontinence, hair loss to memory loss, chronic indigestion to chronic pain. But in August a Pentagon study concluded that neither the vets nor their loved ones showed signs of any “new or unique illness.” Veterans’ advocates disputed that finding, as did the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, which declared that the report’s “reasoning . . . is not well explained.” And while there is, as yet, no absolute proof that Gulf vets’ babies are especially prone to congenital problems, patterns of defects have begun to emerge–patterns unlikely to result from chance alone.

A disturbing pattern of birth defects was becoming apparent among Gulf War veterans:

birth defect

Update: In a group of 251 soldiers from a study group in Mississippi who had all had normal babies before the Gulf War, 67 percent of their post-war babies were born with severe birth defects.

Now, some researchers are beginning to link Gulf War Syndrome with the effects of depleted urianium. Because of its high density, DU is used in armor-penetrating munitions. DU munitions were used extensively by United States forces in both the first and current Iraq wars, putting soldiers and civilians at risk of exposure.

Dr. Siegwart-Horst Günther, a former colleague of Albert Schweitzer, and Tedd Weyman of the Uranium Medical Research Center traveled to Iraq, from Germany and Canada respectively, to assess uranium contamination in Iraq. Weyman led the investigative team that gathered samples for analysis. He discovered human and environmental samples that contained depleted uranium and abnormally high levels of the artificial transuranic isotope, 236U.

Sarah Wilton has been working on a Ph. D. dissertation comparing the effects of uranium contamination with Gulf War Syndrome, and she has found that they are remarkably similar, enough so that she has become convinced that Gulf War Syndrome is nothing more than uranium contamination.

Sarah will be showing the film “THE DOCTOR, THE DEPLETED URANIUM AND THE DYING CHILDREN” at the Sangha Performance Space, 7014 Westmoreland Ave. Takoma Park, at 7 pm. Sunday, July 17 . Several Montgomery Greens have been helping spread the word.

This is a very important film that has been endorsed by numerous local peace groups. I would encourage anyone who can to come out for the showing.