Below is only a small reprint from the web site. All Gulf war veterans, VSOs, NSO’s and Advocates need to read it, and article below by Denise Nichols
http://www.veteranstoday.com/downloads/09binnsmemo.pdf
FROM: James Binns, Chairman, Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans
Illnesses
SUBJECT: VA staff manipulation of Institute of Medicine reports
DATE: February 9, 2009
In its 452-page report released in November the Congressionally-mandated Research Advisory
Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses concluded that scientific research consistently
indicates that Gulf War illness is real, the result of toxic exposures during the 1991 war, and
affects at least 175,000 veterans -- one in four of those who served. The report is available from
the Committee scientific staff office at the Boston University School of Public Health at
rac@bu.edu and online at www.va.gov/rac-gwvi.
The report observes that these health problems have been “denied and trivialized” for seventeen
years. This process has included VA staff manipulation of Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports
relied upon by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in determining ill veterans’ benefits. [Report,
pp. 53-55] Because of the stature of the IOM, these reports have also misled researchers,
lawmakers, physicians, and the public regarding the health problems of Gulf War veterans.
VA subsequently announced that it was referring the Research Advisory Committee report to the
IOM. This new IOM report was requested before the new Administration took office, and VA
staff gave the IOM committee its charge on January 28.
The Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, is universally
respected as the high court of American medical science. Government compromise of its
processes is a breach of public trust that would have been unthinkable under traditional ethical
standards. It is of great importance that this matter be thoroughly investigated and reformed, on
both the government and Institute sides. The IOM Gulf War reports should then be re-done in
accordance with the law, as recommended by the Research Advisory Committee [Report, p. 57].
This memorandum will consider VA staff’s interaction with the Institute of Medicine in the
preparation of the Gulf War reports. It will demonstrate:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/article5994.html
AN OPEN LETTER TO All Desert Storm Veterans, Gulf War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans, Family Members, Veteran Supporters
by Denise Nichols
Read this VA Staff Manipulation of Institute of Medicine Report closely! It has been 18 years and Desert Storm veterans ill from their service in the gulf war 90-91 wonder why the VA has not been more proactive, well I believe these are very hard and documented facts!
Delay, Denial, Avoidance.
It will only stop when we all raise our voices!
This means take this document and write a brief letter to your Elected Representative, Senators, House VA Committee, Senate VA Committee and
ASK CLEARLY FOR A SENATE AND HOUSE VA COMMITTEES JOINT HEARING NOW!
Panel 1: Should be the RAC GWI Committee
Panel 2: Should be each and everyone of the Gulf War Veteran Organizations that have fought for you since day1
NGWRC--Jim Bunker
AGWVA- Gail Reed
DSJF-Paul Lyons
Veterans for Common Sense- Paul Sullivan
National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition- Denise Nichols
Veterans of Modern Warfare- Don Overton
Wisconsin Veterans State Deptartment of Veterans- Anthony Hardy
Panel 3 Individual Gulf War Veterans ie Desert Storm Veterans or their Family Member if Desert Storm Veteran is now dead. and
Panel 4
most important the Army Preventative Medical Team that was there in theater! To finally lay out what happenned in theater!
It has been 18 years and the VA is still not taking care of the Desert Storm Veterans!
They ship you off and give you psychological drugs to keep you quiet. Does that help your body's response to all the exposures in theater?
You need the best diagnostic testing, regular screening for cancers, neuromuscular diseases, cardiac screening, checked for Autoimmune Disorders, etc.
You need detoxification, supplementation programs that Integrative Medicine and ACAM Physicians and Environmental Medicine Doctors on Civilian side know about!
You need to be tested for all the viral reactivation and that needs to be treated!
AS an officer nurse I was there to care for each of you and we did the best we could but we were not told the truth either as your medical officers! I have been involved since 1992 digging for the truth, going door to door on the hill in DC giving briefings, getting cosponsors on legistation, and testifying. WE have been into every rat maze of denial in DC and we can not wait any longer! So please write your letters!
IT is time for Joint hearings on the Hill in DC for Desert Storm Veterans!
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I have written quite extensively about the IOM reports on Sarin Exposure that was done by William Page PHD in March 2003. The report was funded by DOD and was set to parameters that DOD set, they prevented an open assessment of all available chemical weapons data.
Primarily they ignored a report by the national Institute of Health done in 1994 on chemical weapon exposure, low level exposures http://www.ehponline.org/members/1994/102-1/munro-full.html titled Toxicity of the Organophosphate Chemical Warfare Agents GA, GB, and VX: Implications for Public Protection and they also ignored this report on long term health effects of chemical weapon exposure that definately shows many medical problems linked to exposures on page 40 http://www.sipri.org/contents/cbwarfare/Publications/pdfs/cw-delayed.pdf
A psychiatric delayed-effect syndrome was found as a result of systematic investigations
on former members of CW production and testing stations for the Wehrmacht. In
terms of frequency, two groups of symptoms can be distinguished–each consisting of
four separate symptoms or signs.
(1) The great majority of persons examined showed:
(a) persistently lowered vitality accompanied by marked diminution in drive;
(b) defective autonomic regulation leading to cephalalgia, gastrointestinal and
cardiovascular symptoms, and premature decline in libido and potency;
(c) intolerance symptoms (alcohol, nicotine, medicines);
(d) impression of premature aging.
(2) Further, one or more symptoms of the second group were found:
(a) depressive or subdepressive disorders of vital functions;
(b) cerebral vegetative (syncopal) attacks;
(c) slight or moderate amnestic and demential defects;
(d) slight organoneurological defects (predominantly microsymptoms and singular
signs of extrapyramidal character).
Our results are a contribution to the general question of psychopathological delayed
and permanent lesions caused by industrial poisoning. On the basis of our studies of
the etiologically different manifestations of toxication, the possibility of a relatively
uniform–though equally unspecific–cerebro-organic delayed effect syndrome is conceivable
Many of the above symptoms are the illness many people call Gulf War Illness these men were the Wermacht soldiers of Germanys WW2 chemical weapons program
I am one of the soldiers used in the control group for the march 2003 Sarin report, I am Med Vol 6778A of the 7120 enlisted men and women used at Edgewood Arsenal from 1955 thru 1975 in the Army's chemical weapons and drug experiments.
These veterans are now suing the CIA, DOD and the Army for neglecting them and denying them medical care and recognition for the dangerous assignment
http://edgewoodtestvets.org/
What This Case Is About
Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief only – no monetary damages – and Plaintiffs seek redress for 25 years of diabolical experiments followed by over 30 years of neglect, including:
the use of troops to test nerve gas, psychochemicals, and thousands of other toxic chemical or biological substances and perhaps most gruesomely, the insertion of septal implants in the brains of subjects in a ghastly series of mind control experiments that went awry;
the failures to secure informed consent and other widespread failures to follow the precepts of U.S. and international law regarding the use of human subjects, including the 1953 Wilson Directive and the Nuremberg Code;
an almost fanatical refusal to satisfy their legal and moral obligations to locate the victims of their gruesome experiments or to provide health care or compensation to them;
the deliberate destruction of evidence and files documenting their illegal actions, actions which were punctuated by fraud, deception, and a callous disregard for the value of human life.
The Complaint asks the Court to determine that Defendants’ actions were illegal and that Defendants have a duty to notify all victims and to provide them with health care going forward.
Bottom Line the truth is it's the money, if they have to service connect all of these problems, the costs will run into the billions of dollars, it's that simple.
Friday, April 24, 2009
VA staff manipulation of Institute of Medicine reports
