From the Journal Inquirer, 6/10/97, editorial
Gulf War birth defect study severely flawed
by Diane Gates Dulka, president of the Gulf War Veterans of New England, Connecticut Chapter

The media has released information on a study of children born to Persian Gulf war veterans. As president of The Gulf War Veterans of New England, Conn. Chapter, and also a Gulf War widow and the mother of a Gulf War child with a birth defect, I feel a duty to veterans to respond to this study.

The general public will assume by this report that the study is not without flaws and once again perceive that there is not a direct link between children born with birth defects and their parents' service in the Gulf.

First of all, this study looked at children born only in military hospitals. Since the Gulf War, many of the service personnel have left duty and produced children with birth defects. These children are not born in military hospitals. The study also did not look at reservists and National Guard troops. This population made up almost half of the U.S. troops in the Gulf.

This study did not explore what types of birth defects the Gulf war veterans are seeing. There is an abnormally high number of very rare birth defects among our children, and there are also clusters of similar birth defects that are occurring in specific groups of service members who went to the Gulf.

Once again, the Pentagon has offered a study that is extremely inaccurate. The general public is not aware of the slanted figures that were used. We as an organization need to make people aware. As in the past, our future depends on full accountability.

During the past 20 years, our government has denied that the children of our Vietnam veterans had a higher rate of birth defects. Within the past few months and after years of fighting, the Veterans Administration has finally decided that children born to Vietnam veterans with spina-bifida will be compensated because it is a direct result of their service in Vietnam. Because of our fellow Vietnam veterans' determination, we now know that we must react to all of the studies which the Pentagon releases as fact.

Unfortunately, our media system releases this information as fact without follow-up of investigation. What was the age group used in each group? Did anyone in the study who did not go to the Gulf receive all the vaccines in preparation but were never shipped out? How can a study be conducted that excludes every child except those born in military facilities?

The purpose in releasing a study of this nature is to reinforce the governmental position of being able to deny our veterans families what they need to survive. Therefore, our veteran families with these children are left to fend for themselves. It is studies such as these that cause our veterans to be treated as outcasts and complainers when in fact they are some of the most courageous people I have ever had the privilege to meet.

On behalf of all our Connecticut Gulf veterans, I would like the media to investigate this study thoroughly, not just print the results and assume they are correct just because this is a government study. Get the answers to the questions I have raised and present both sides of this issue honestly and fairly.