Nerve gas, insecticide exposure possible cause of Gulf War illness, say GHSU researchers
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
Monday, March 19, 2012 4:50 PM
Last updated 8:25 PM
The memory and attention problems plaguing thousands of veterans from the first Gulf War might be caused by low-level exposure to insecticides and nerve gas, researchers at Georgia Health Sciences University said.
Dr. Alvin Terry, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Georgia Health Sciences University, is looking at the mysterious neurological symptons of Gulf War syndrome that plagues veterans who served in the Gulf.
Gulf War Illness could be caused by a class of chemicals known as organophosphates, which can include popular pesticides and insecticides but also the nerve gases sarin and cyclosarin. The Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency estimate 100,000 might have been exposed to low levels of those nerve gases when troops blew up a weapons depot in Khamisiyah, Iraq, on March 10, 1991. Troops were also routinely exposed to the chemical in insecticides, said Dr. Alvin Terry, the director of the Animal Behavior Center at GHSU and professor of pharmacology and toxicology....
