From the Journal Inquirer, 7/24/97
Almost 100,000 soldiers said exposed to gas
by Robert Burns, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon now says 98,900 U.S. troops were exposed to trace amounts of poison gas from exploded Iraqi weapons shortly after the Gulf War, but that none received doses high enough to cause noticeable health effects.

Even though the estimate of troops exposed is five times the Pentagon's earlier guess, it is sticking to its view that the chemical release on March 10, 1991, appears unrelated to the mysterious illnesses reported by Gulf War veterans.

The latest numbers, which are higher than generally expected, were revealed by defense officials Wednesday on condition that they not be identified. The Pentagon scheduled a news conference today to make the official announcement.

Scientists and others attempting to find the cause of Gulf War illnesses such as chronic fatigue and respiratory problems have suggested chemical exposure. Exposure to biological poisons, fumes from oil well fires, and the aftereffects of wartime stress also have been offered as possible explanations.

The defense officials said the new estimate of troop exposures is based on more complete information about circumstances when U.S. troops demolished the Khamisiyah ammunition depot on Southern Iraq on March 10, 1991. Unknown to the troops, hundreds of 122mm rockets with sarin gas in their warheads were among the weapons blown up that day.

None of the troops involved reported ill health effects at the time, and the fact that Iraqi chemical weapons were present at Khamisiyah at the time did not come to light until 1996.

In an earlier estimate made with incomplete data on such factors as wind shifts, troop locations, and the purity of the chemicals in the Iraqi rockets, the Pentagon and CIA had said that about 20,000 American troops might have been exposed.

Computer modeling based on more complete information showed the plume carrying minute amounts of chemical agents traveled as far as 300 miles, the officials said. The 98,900 troops were under that plume between March 10 and 13.

Official stressed that none of the 98,900 was exposed to amounts of gas that would cause even minor immediate symptoms such as runny nose or dimmed vision. Even so, all 98,900 will be surveyed as part of a continuing Pentagon effort to determine if there are delayed or long term health effects to exposure to trace amounts of the chemicals.

A lethal dose of the poison gas would be 100 milligrams per cubic meter, and an incapacitating dose would be 35 milligrams. Initial effects such as dimmed vision are seen at an exposure level of 1 milligram per cubic meter. None of the 98,900 who were in the Iraqi gas cloud got even 1 milligram exposure, officials said.

For more than five years after the war against Iraq, the Pentagon strongly denied there was any evidence that American troops had been exposed to chemical weapons.

In June 1996, however, the Pentagon acknowledged the demolition of the Khamisiyah ammunition depot in southern Iraq in March 1991 had resulted in the release of toxic chemical agents in the vicinity of American troops. But it didn't know the degree of exposure to the number of troops possibly affected.

Last month the Pentagon said it has established the exact whereabouts of U.S. forces on the day of the demolition, and just last week it estimated that about 500 chemical-filled 122mm Iraqi rockets had been blown up at Khamisiyah.

The conclusions in the report to be released today were drawn by matching the troop location information with newly derived data on the size, density, and movement of the chemical-bearing plume created by the demolition.

When the Pentagon initially estimated that 20,000 troops may have been exposed it surveyed them to determine such things as ill health effects they suffered. Of the 7,400 who responded, 26 reported medical problems that could be associated with exposure to gas. Nine of the 26, however, were not in the area of the plume created by the Khamisiyah demolition, officials said.