VA Accused of Spinning Gulf War Veterans’ Health

VA Accused of Spinning Gulf War Veterans’ Health
Posted on August 20, 2012 by VCS
From 91outcomes.com and Friend of VCS and Gulf War Veteran Anthony Hardie

NEWSMAX The Wire, Aug. 15, 2012 – Members of a federal committee created by Congress say the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) … isn’t telling the truth about its treatment of America’s veterans, and the department’s latest public statements are more spin than substance.

The VA recently issued a lengthy press release touting its alleged accomplishments regarding Gulf War Illness.

But several members of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans (RAC) — created by Congress in 1998 to advise the VA on Gulf War health issues — say the press release is filled with misleading and inaccurate statements. Some members of RAC, which is comprised of physicians, scientists, and veterans, tell Newsmax they are outraged by the press release — and …. neglect of men and women who served in the 1990-1991 war against Iraq.

Anthony Hardie, a Gulf War Army Special Ops veteran and RAC member since 2005, tells Newsmax… the VA “totally ignored” a RAC report released in late June that gave the department a unanimous vote of “no confidence” for its “failure to develop treatments for the estimated 250,000 veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness.”

In a landmark 2010 report, Gulf War Illness was ruled a legitimate disease — not a psychological ailment— by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a nonprofit organization that provides nonpartisan advice to decision-makers and the public.

But the VA now seems determined to reverse that historic decision and downplay the problem, committee members say.
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