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Pentagon notifying 100,000 soldiers of possible nerve gas
exposure
July 24, 1997
Web posted at: 3:12 p.m. EDT (1912 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that
nearly 100,000 U.S. troops could have been exposed to trace
amounts of poisonous nerve gas when chemical weapons were
destroyed at the end of the Gulf War.
But during a news conference Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Ken
Bacon said there had been no clinical evidence that troops
were actually exposed. Even if they had been, he said,
long-term medical effects were unlikely. "We are in the
process of notifying those soldiers," Bacon said.
Though the estimate of troops exposed is five times the
Pentagon's earlier guess, it is sticking to the view that the
chemical release on March 10, 1991, appears unrelated to the
mysterious illnesses reported by Gulf War veterans.
Veterans groups have been highly critical of the Defense
Department for not investigating chemical exposures earlier
and more aggressively.
Weather, warheads analyzed
The conference, which also brought in representatives from
the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence
Agency, went into exhaustive detail on the study, explaining
how meteorological data and warhead reconstructions were used
to estimate the number of soldiers exposed.
Prevailing wind conditions on the date of the weapons
destruction at Khamisiyah ammunition depot helped
investigators determine how far nerve gas might have been
spread.
By rebuilding warheads, investigators learned how much of the
nerve gas could have been spread around, and in what form.
The warheads, they found, held less nerve gas than originally
believed -- each could have held no more than 6.3 kg of the
gas, not 8 kg as originally thought. This would have made for
a total of no more than 1,882 gallons of agent in the pit.
Not the solution for Gulf War illness
The Pentagon, working with the CIA, has found no clear link
between the chemical exposures and the unexplained illnesses,
but many veterans still believe chemical or possibly
biological weapons are to blame.
Many of the veterans have complained of medical problems such
as fatigue, sleep disorders, headaches and pain in the joints
and muscles.
For more than five years after the war, the Pentagon strongly
denied there was any evidence that American troops had been
exposed to chemical weapons.
But in June 1996, the Pentagon acknowledged that the
demolition of the Khamisiyah depot in southern Iraq in March
1991 had resulted in the release of toxic chemical agents in
the vicinity of American troops. Pentagon officials said,
however, they didn't know the degree of exposure or the
number of troops affected.
Last month, the Pentagon said it had established the exact
whereabouts of U.S. forces on the day of the demolition, and
last week it estimated that about 500 chemical-filled 122 mm
Iraqi rockets had been blown up at Khamisiyah.
Sources say it is unlikely that the incident will account for
the Gulf War illnesses, because many sick veterans were not
in the area, and many who were are not sick.
Also, they say, the exposure levels were too low for the
sarin to be a factor. They say the exposure level for most
troops is 0.01296 milligram minutes per cubic meter, while
the standard for pesticide workers is 1.0 milligram minutes
per cubic meter.
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