ADDITIONAL VIEWS OF HON. BERNARD SANDERS

I would like to express my appreciation for the time and energy which Congressman Shays, Ranking Member Towns and the committee staff have put into this investigation and this Report. I would also like to express my concurrence with the conclusions and recommendations in this report. As it happens, it is my opinion that this report represents the most comprehensive and accurate assessment of the complexities surrounding Gulf War illnesses. I am delighted that the Government Reform and Oversight Committee approved this report and I believe we should promptly begin working on implementing its recommendations in a timely manner. After 6 years of virtually no progress in this area, we have no time to lose. The U.S. Congress, along with the scientific and medical community, the Veterans organizations and other concerned bodies, must begin focussing on this issue in a way that has not yet occurred. Our goal must be, as soon as possible, to discover the causes of Gulf War illnesses and the most effective treatments available.
Chairman Shays and his subcommittee have lead the effort during the last 19 months to unravel the complexities surrounding Gulf War illnesses. We have heard compelling testimony from dozens of sick veterans - at times this testimony was not only difficult for them to give, but was also painful for the Members and the public to hear. The subcommittee heard testimony from high level representatives from the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, doctors and scientists from around the world, the General Accounting Office and many others. I would like to stress that the conclusions contained in this report were not made lightly. They were drawn by gathering of information from 11 subcommittee hearings and thousands of pages of documents. Many many people testified at these hearings and I would like to thank all of them for the tremendous help they gave this committee.
The bottom line is this. After an exhaustive gathering of the evidence, and careful analysis of the information which was put before this subcommittee, it is my own conclusion that the Department of Defense and the VA have failed miserably in solving the problems of Gulf War illnesses and in developing effective treatments for the tens of thousands of veterans who are hurting -including hundreds in my own State of Vermont.
It is clear to almost everyone that, from the very beginning of this situation, the DOD and the VA have downplayed the whole issue of Gulf War illness. In the very beginning they actually denied that there was any problem whatsoever. And then, after finally acknowledging that there was a problem, they concluded that the problem was in the heads of our soldiers - of psychological origin. For 5 years, the Pentagon denied that our soldiers had been exposed to any chemical warfare agents. Finally, after being forced to admit that there were exposures, they suggested that the exposures were ``limited''. The DOD's first estimates were 400 troops exposed, then 20,000 troops. In July of this year, the DOD and CIA gave us their best estimate - that as many as 98,910 American troops could have been exposed to chemical warfare agents due to destruction of ``the Pit'' in Khamisiyah, an Iraqi munitions facility. I would not be surprised if this estimate is revised upward in the not too distant future, as more information is gathered regarding other incidents of chemical warfare exposure. And on and on it goes. Getting information has been like pulling teeth.
If I were in pain and for 6 years I went to a doctor who was unable to effectively diagnose my problem or treat me, I would say to that doctor, ``Thank you very much for your efforts, but I am going elsewhere.'' And that is the situation facing some 70,000 veterans of Gulf War illness. The evidence is overwhelming that, for whatever reason, the DOD and the VA have not been able to come up with a cause for Gulf War illnesses or an effective treatment. It may simply be nothing more complicated than the fact that the VA and the DOD simply lack the expertise in environmental toxicology that is at the root of the problem. I am not casting aspersions on the sincerity of the leadership of the VA and the DOD and their desire to do the right thing and help our veterans. I am simply saying that they have failed, that we must acknowledge their failure, and for the sake of the 70,000 veterans who continue to hurt, we must go outside of the DOD and VA if we are to come up with the cause of this problem and find effective treatments.
As part of this effort, I am happy to report that the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which is currently in conference, contains language, that I introduced, which asks the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to study how chemical exposures in the Persian Gulf relate to Gulf War illnesses. Additionally through this program, the NIEHS is to investigate treatment protocols which are being developed in the private sector around the country. Whether or not the NIEHS should be the agency given full responsibility for heading up the broader independent investigation which this report calls for, I can't answer right now. But that is an issue that needs to be pursued vigorously and in the very near future.
As we learned through our subcommittee hearings, the military theater in the Persian Gulf was a chemical cesspool. Our troops were exposed to chemical warfare agents, leaded petroleum, widespread use of pesticides, depleted uranium and burning oil wells. In addition, they were given a myriad of pharmaceuticals as vaccines. Further, and perhaps most importantly, as a result of waiver from the FDA, hundreds of thousands of troops were given pyridostigmine bromide. Pyridostigmine bromide, which was being used as an anti-nerve gas agent, had never been used in this capacity before. In the midst of all of this, our troops were living in a hot and unpleasant climate and were under very great stress.
Through our subcommittee hearings we have also learned that an increasing number of scientists now believe that the synergistic effect of chemical exposures, plus the experimental vaccine pyridostigmine bromide, may well be a major cause of the health problems affecting our soldiers. Additionally, we learned of scientific studies which suggest that stressful conditions in combination with taking pyridostigmine bromide can lead to neurological problems. Moreover, this subcommittee heard from scientists who conclude that exposures to low levels of chemical weapons, such as those experienced near Khamisiyah, can lead to long-term health problems - contrary to what the DOD and VA continue to maintain.
One of the most important, yet disturbing facets of this problem is that health effects from chemical exposures may surface years after the initial exposure - and these health effects can be very serious, including kidney damage, liver damage, neurological damage, reproductive problems, respitory problems and cancer. Our government needs to own up to the fact that many of the chemical exposures in the Gulf can very well lead to long-term and serious health problems for our veterans. And because of this we have a responsibility to provide health care, treatment and compensation for the health problems which stem from service in the Gulf.
I very much agree with the recommendation in this report that Congress enact a law which sets up the presumption that Gulf War veterans were exposed to hazardous materials known to have been present in the Gulf War theater. As we have learned in our hearings, to this point the burden has been on the veteran to prove that they were exposed to harmful chemicals and that their illnesses stem from that exposure. Because of the lack of military records as to administration of pyridostigmine bromide, missing logs on chemical and biological weapons alarms, and missing data as to which individuals were exposed to chemical weapons, it has been impossible for thousands of veterans to prove that chemical exposure has caused their illnesses. This has resulted in unending frustration for thousands of sick veterans_causing many to seek medical attention from the private sector and devote significant financial resources to treating their illnesses. This is simply unacceptable.
In having passed this committee report, we should not think that our work is done. On the contrary, we have really just begun. It is my belief that serious and focused scientific work can give us an understanding of why tens of thousands of our soldiers are suffering a myriad of illnesses, and some excellent scientific work - already completed - is paving the way for us. It is also my belief that we can come up with effective treatments. And it very likely that there are physicians throughout the country who have already developed treatments that are helpful.
It seems to me that our committee must remain involved in this issue, must, along with our colleagues in both bodies, help find the appropriate agency to direct the research, must make certain that adequate money is made available, and must exercise oversight over that agency to ensure that its mandate is carried out. I thank Chairman Shays and Ranking Member Towns for their hard work on this issue, and I look forward to working with my committee colleagues in the near future, to implement its recommendations.

Hon. Bernard Sanders.