A Review of the Scientific Literature as it Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses

Many Gulf War veterans have reported an array of physical and mental health complaints since the war and the question on everyone's mind is "Can we identify a cause or is this a coincidence?" To complement efforts by the Defense Department and other federal agencies in their attempt to understand the full range of health implications of service in that conflict, RAND undertook a major study to summarize the scientific literature on the known health effects of given exposures to such risk factors as oil well fires, chemical and biological warfare agents, depleted uranium pesticides, pyridostigmine bromide, immunizations, infectious diseases, and stress. In this landmark book series the authors report on their literature review summarize what is known about the range of actual exposures in the Gulf, and assess the plausibility of the risk factor at hand as a cause of illness. The authors caution that more research on health effects and exposures remains to be completed before definitive statements can be made and make recommendations for additional research.