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British Legion calls for more research into Gulf War illnesses

MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
This article was published today on the BBC News website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35336312

More help is needed for veterans with Gulf War Syndrome, the Royal British Legion has said, as it marks 25 years since the beginning of that conflict.

Over 33,000 former soldiers are thought to suffer from illnesses related to their service such as chronic headaches, fatigue and memory problems.

The charity said too little was known about the condition and the government should fund more research into it.

The Ministry of Defence said it was always open to new research proposals.

More at the above link.
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
From the article:

In its 2015 manifesto the Legion said the first phase of an MoD-commissioned study at Cardiff University, which examined potential interventions to rehabilitate ill Gulf War veterans, had started in January 2009 but "for reasons unknown to us, the MoD chose not to fund the second phase of research, and the results of phase one were never published".

Does anyone know what happened there? Or what the nature of that research was?

Call me a conspiracy theorist (I'm fine with that), but 2 possibilities spring to mind:
1. It was biomedical research and the phase one results suggested (expensive) non-psychological therapies helped.
2. It was looking at CBT/GET or something similar and phase one results showed it made things worse.

The MOD may say it's always open to new research proposals, but we know who rules the roost in this area. It's what got Simon Wessely knighted. From Wikipedia:

While this work, Wessely's evidence to the Lloyd Inquiry, and the work of other investigators was crucial in categorising Gulf War Syndrome as a verifiable consequence of service in the Gulf, which resulted in affected Gulf War veterans being able to receive war pensions, Wessely does not believe that Gulf War Syndrome exists as a distinct illness, stating "Is there a problem? Yes there is. Is it Gulf War Syndrome or isn't it? I think that's a statistical and technical question that's of minor interest". Instead Wessely favours psychological explanations for what he views to be a 'Gulf War health effect' which he believes to be caused by stress, specifically troops' anxiety about chemical weapons and vaccines, as well as misinformation about Gulf War Syndrome.

His 'evidence' (sic. I suspect they mean 'testimony') may have helped affected troops get war pensions, which is a good thing, but at what cost?
 

Skippa

Anti-BS
Messages
841
@sarah darwins don't worry about being a conspiracy theorist when there is quite clearly something afoot.

What would make you a conspiracy theorist would be if you took this as evidence that aliens are responsible for GWS or lizard people gave them the cocktail of drugs.

What we have here is clearly a case of either/or: one of the following:

1) 33,000 troops all got together and decided to lie their ass off and invent a syndrome for shits and giggles.

2) somewhere along the line, someone is covering their ass... might not even be as big as experimental therapy etc, could just be an extremely selfish "higher up" wanting to defend their promotion.

3) stiff upper lip. Throwing 33,000 troops under the bus is better than admitting you have a serious problem requiring cash and time to fix.
 
Messages
13,774
In its 2015 manifesto the Legion said the first phase of an MoD-commissioned study at Cardiff University, which examined potential interventions to rehabilitate ill Gulf War veterans, had started in January 2009 but "for reasons unknown to us, the MoD chose not to fund the second phase of research, and the results of phase one were never published".

That does sound interesting.

I've heard that Wessely has rather misprepresented his role in getting financial support for the suffers of GWS, and that one of the lawyers involved thought that he was quite unhelpful. I can't find any good evidence on this one way or the other now though.
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
I've heard that Wessely has rather misprepresented his role in getting financial support for the suffers of GWS, and that one of the lawyers involved thought that he was quite unhelpful. I can't find any good evidence on this one way or the other now though.
Given his background I'm sure we can guess which side to err on.
 

SilverbladeTE

Senior Member
Messages
3,043
Location
Somewhere near Glasgow, Scotland
Can' expose the fact that

1) the UK/USA sold Saddam the nerve gasses and biological weapons he had

2) that bombing his ammunitions stores released these and troops downwind got dosed

3) some of the SCUD missiles WERE armed with such warheads, by accident or design (local commanders zealotry or just screw ups who knows)
but that couldn't get out, as the USA had threatened to retaliate with hydrogen bombs if that occurred
see, thing is, that was, like one 12 years later, was a lie, all about stealing oil/power etc etc
so they couldn't have nukes being used
so it was all "disappeared"

4) the troops were injected with an untested unicenced anthrax vaccine inc lear breach of many laws and regulations
and wouldn't ya know it, follow the money and well, it leads up and up

5) couldn't let folk realize that organophosphates have terrible long term consequence as they are IN OUR FOOD


so 25 years on and there is no serious research no treatment the troops are dying off MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
as always they lie out there ass using people like Wessely to filibuster until the victims are mostly dead.
 
Messages
13,774
New article just up on BBC News website:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35341643

Very BPS. Funny how the risk factor mentioned by the veteran is vaccinations, something for which there is supporting evidence, yet the BBC article chooses to not mention that and instead debunk other possible physical causes and present no criticism of Neil Greenberg's claims.
 
Messages
724
Location
Yorkshire, England
From the article:



Does anyone know what happened there? Or what the nature of that research was?

Call me a conspiracy theorist (I'm fine with that), but 2 possibilities spring to mind:
1. It was biomedical research and the phase one results suggested (expensive) non-psychological therapies helped.
2. It was looking at CBT/GET or something similar and phase one results showed it made things worse.

The MOD may say it's always open to new research proposals, but we know who rules the roost in this area. It's what got Simon Wessely knighted. From Wikipedia:



His 'evidence' (sic. I suspect they mean 'testimony') may have helped affected troops get war pensions, which is a good thing, but at what cost?

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward is Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Research, Occupational and Physician Health at Cardiff University School of Medicine
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Professor Sir Mansel Aylward is Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Research, Occupational and Physician Health at Cardiff University School of Medicine

Ah, nice clue, LB.

From Wiki:

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward is Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Research, Occupational and Physician Health at Cardiff University School of Medicine.

He was knighted in the 2010 New Year Honours. He was made a Freeman of the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil in 2013. He was born in the Ex-servicemen's Club in the town in November 1942.[1]

He is Chair of Public Health Wales.

From 1996 to April 2005 he was Chief Medical Adviser, Medical Director and Chief Scientist of the UK Department for Work and Pensions and Chief Medical Adviser and Head of Profession at the Veteran’s Agency, Ministry of Defence.[2] He was on the board of the Benefits Agency Medical Service in the 1990s. His wife Angela was then involved in setting up a company called Mediprobe, trading under the name Nationwide Medical Examination Advisory Service Ltd., which arranged for the agency's doctors to work for insurance companies.[3] He was involved in the establishment of the new Work Capability Assessment test. When he left the department he headed the UnumProvident Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research, at Cardiff University,[4] He has been attacked as giving academic credibility to the biopsychosocial model which was said to be the basis of the Cameron government’s disability benefits crackdown.[5]

He is Chair of the advisory board of HCML a provider of rehabilitation and case management services to insurance companies and the corporate sector.[6]

Simon Wessely two point oh?
 

Chrisb

Senior Member
Messages
1,051
A few nights ago I was looking at some papers which I currently do not have the energy to rediscover. I was trying to find the research for which I had been a guinea pig. I had not previously realised, or had forgotten, that the work of Behan and Bakheit in the early 1990s on use of buspirone to identify abnormalities in prolactin release had been replicated in farmers suffering organo- phosphate poisoning.

I was somewhat surprised to see the name on the paper in, I think, 1997 which questioned the findings. M Sharpe.

I will put that on the list of things to look at. when energy resources allow.
 

Chrisb

Senior Member
Messages
1,051
Sharpe found the same prolactin response to buspirone that Behan did.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8938208
There are a lot more names on this paper than the one I saw, but perhaps I was too tired to take proper note. I may have formed the premature belief that corroboration of Behan's findings would not sit easily with a belief in the BPS model.

Should this paper be interpreted as an acceptance of Behan's findings on organo phosphate poisoning with its possible implications for GWS.