The ill health reported by veterans covered a wide range of ailments that is similar between the different coalition countries involved in the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict. No one cause was identified but a range of different exposures to chemical, biological or radiological hazards and medical countermeasures used to protect Servicemen and women were alleged as possible causes.
On 7 November 1995, the House of Commons Defence Committee published it's first report on what it refers to as Gulf War Syndrome. In May 1996, following discussions with the MOD, the Medical Research Council (MRC) called for research proposals into Gulf veterans' ill health from independent researchers.
In December 1996, the MOD releases details about the vaccines used to counter the threat of Iraqi biological warfare agents used during the 1990/1991 Conflict (anthrax and plague and pertussis). The release addressed a major complaint about the lack of information provided by MOD.
In February 1997, the MOD's Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Unit (now DCDS(PERS) Pensions, Compensation & Veterans) is specifically formed to deal with the health and related personnel issues raised by veterans of the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict. In July 1997, MOD publishes the "Gulf Veterans' Illnesses: A New Beginning" document that sets out Government policy on the issue and lists 20 key points on which specific action is to take place.
In 1999 and 2000, MOD publishes various papers on possible exposures from the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict. Mortality data is published by the Manchester University on Gulf veterans for the first time and show that veterans do not suffer any excess in overall mortality. In early 2001, MOD offers depleted uranium (DU) tests to veterans of the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict and Bosnia.
The MRC published the results of their independent review of UK research into Gulf veterans' ill health in May 2003. The MRC report states that no evidence of a unique syndrome has been found in this country or aboard following research of troops deployed to the Gulf.
In January 2005, MOD publishes a paper which evaluates work undertaken by the US Department of Defense modelling the distribution of nerve agents released by US demolitions of Iraqi chemical weapons at the end of the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict. The paper explains that the level of nerve agent released would have been too low to have any biologically detectable effect on UK troops and would have a minimal impact on health. The closest UK Force was some 130 Km from Khamisiyah.
In October 2005, a Pensions Appeal Tribunal (PAT) in the case of a Gulf veteran reaches the clear conclusion that Gulf War Syndrome does not exist as a discrete pathological entity but decides that the term should be used as an umbrella term for those conditions which are accepted as due to service and connected with the 1990/1991 Gulf conflict. The MOD welcomes the decision by the PAT and in a statement on 24 November 2005 states that it is hoped that this will provide an element of closure for those who have sought some acknowledge that their ill-health is connected to their Gulf service.
In July and October 2006, the MOD announced that final scientific papers relating to its Vaccines Interactions Research Programme had been published. These looked at the possible adverse health effects of the combination of vaccines and tablets given to troops to protect them against the threat of biological and chemical warfare. The overwhelming evidence from the programme is that the combination of vaccines and tablets that were offered to UK forces at the time of the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict would not have had adverse health effects.
The independent Depleted Uranium Oversight Board published in March 2007 the results of a screening programme for veterans of the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict and subsequent Balkans operations concerned about possible exposure to depleted uranium. A total of 496 applicants completed the test and no evidence of the excretion of depleted uranium was found in the urine of any of the test participants.
A Rehabilitation Research Study to support ill Gulf veterans begins work in January 2009. The project's objective is to develop a cost effective intervention taking account of physical, personal, psychological, social and occupational obstacles to recovery and better functioning in ill Gulf veterans. Phase 1 of the project involves working with international rehabilitation experts with military experience and Gulf veterans themselves to develop an intervention for exploratory trial (Phase 2). The researchers are expected to report formally in late 2010.