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French military to probe Gulf syndromePARIS, France (Reuters) -- France's defense minister, until now wary about reports of "Gulf War syndrome" among French veterans of the 1991 conflict, will ask for a parliamentary investigation on the issue, his office said on Tuesday. Alain Richard will ask that a commission determine whether any of the 25,000 French military who served in the Gulf were exposed to exceptional health risks existed, the office said. Richard's office also said the health ministry was assembling a group of independent medical experts to study the medical records of French troops who served in the Gulf. The moves follows the recent creation of a veteran's group made up of some 80 veterans who say they suffer from mysterious ailments which they link to their Gulf War service. Many U.S. and British Gulf War veterans complain of symptoms ranging from flu to chronic fatigue and asthma. When the controversy first broke in France in May, army medical corps spokesman Colonel Michel Estripeau told reporters: "We don't say the syndrome does not exist, what we are saying is that we have no proof at the present time that any French soldier suffered from it." A pensions board in the port of Toulon heard on Tuesday a complaint from the widow of a navy non-commissioned officer saying her husband died of cancer contracted during service in the Gulf conflict. But the case was adjourned for further investigation after a lawyer for the state said the woman's husband last served in the Gulf in 1987-88 and not when the conflict took place in 1991. |
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