Environmental Exposure Report
Pesticides
Final Report
April 17, 2003
Many veterans of the Gulf War have expressed concern
that their unexplained illnesses may have resulted from their experiences in that war. In
response to veterans’ concerns, the Department of Defense established a task force in
June 1995 to investigate those incidents and circumstances relating to possible causes.
The Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illnesses took over
responsibility for these investigations on November 12, 1996. Effective April 5,
2001, the Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)
for Gulf War Illnesses, Medical Readiness, and Military Deployments assumed continued
responsibility for Gulf War issues.
Environmental Exposure Reports are reports of what the
Department of Defense knows today about certain events that took place during Operations
Desert Shield and Desert Storm of 1990 and 1991. This environmental exposure report
focuses on the use of pesticides by US military personnel and the resulting exposures to
these compounds. The Department published the initial report on January 12, 2001. This is
a final report because no new information has been received to change the findings and
assessments of the previous report. As always, if you believe you have information that
may change this environmental exposure report, please call:
1-800-497-6261
William Winkenwerder Jr., MD
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)
Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)
for Gulf War Illnesses, Medical Readiness, and Military Deployments
US Department of Defense
2001212-0000036 Ver. 2.0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- I. INTRODUCTION
-
- II. SUMMARY
- A. Why We Investigated Pesticides
- B. Exposures
- C. Investigation
- D. Conclusions
-
- III. BACKGROUND
- A. Importance of Preventive Medicine
- B. Expected Threat from Pest-Borne
Diseases
- C. Preventive Medicine and Pest
Management Organizations and Programs in the Gulf War
- 1. Army
- 2. Navy and Marine Corps
- 3. Air Force
- D. Logistics
- E. Concerns About Pesticide Use in the
Gulf War
- F. Institute of Medicine
Literature Review
-
- IV. INVESTIGATION
- A. Investigation Process
- B. Policy, Doctrine and Guidance
- C. Pesticides - Identification, Use,
Exposures, and Potential Health Effects
- 1. Pesticides of Potential Concern
- 2. Pesticide Use in the Gulf War
- 3. General Aspects of Pesticide
Exposure
- 4. Potential Health Effects
- D. Health Risk Assessment Methodology and
Exposure Scenarios
- 1. Introduction
- 2. What the HRA Tells Us
- 3. What the HRA Does Not Tells Us
- 4. Data Collection
- 5. Exposure Scenarios
- 6. Toxicity of the POPCs/Levels of
Concern
- 7. General Military Population
Exposures
- 8. Pesticide Applicators Exposures
- 9. Possible Cumulative Effects
- E. Findings
- 1. Review of Gulf War Records,
Documents and Related Materials
- 2. Veterans’ Interviews
- 3. RAND Literature Review
- 4. RAND Survey
- 5. Health Risk Assessment Findings
-
- V. CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS
LEARNED
- A. Conclusions Related to Potential Health
Outcomes
- 1. Pest-borne Diseases
- 2. Pesticide Overexposures
- 3. Potential for Pesticides to Cause
Long-term Symptoms
- 4. Potential for Pesticides
to Contribute to Veterans’ Illnesses
- 5. Areas for Further Research
- B. Lessons Learned
- 1. Host Nation Application
- 2. Delousing
- 3. Training and Experience
- 4. Supply Distribution and Local Purchase
- 5. Equipment and Facilities
- 6. Record Keeping
- 7. Occupational Medical Surveillance
- 8. Communications
- 9. Command Support
- 10. Use of Dichlorvos Pest Strips
-
- TAB A - Acronyms,
Abbreviations, and Glossary
-
- TAB B - Bibliography
-
- TAB C - Methodology
-
- TAB D - Health Risk
Assessment
-
- TAB E - Pesticide
Guidance, Reference Information, and Research
-
- TAB F - Pest
Management and Operations
-
- TAB G - Fly Baits
-
- TAB H - Delousing
Operations
-
- TAB I - Logistics
-
- TAB J - Human
Benchmarks
-
- TAB K - Changes to
the Interim Report
-
- END NOTES
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