GULF WAR CHEMICALS HOME PAGE

Mission Statement

Gulf War Chemicals (GWC) hopes to serve multiple purposes:

GWC primary mission is assist active service men and women, veterans, civilian government

employees and their families who are suffering serious health issues due to chemical exposure which

occurred during their period of service to the U.S. in the Gulf War. Literally hundreds of our active

service men/woman, veterans and civilian government employees are dealing with serious, even fatal,

illnesses - such as cancers, leukemia, lung diseases and other serious health complications. GWC is

dedicated to identifying and directing victims and their families to additional resources that are

available. Additionally we are dedicated to working towards resolving these issues through public

works, public education, as well as, working with whatever agencies are appropriate, such as the

Veterans Administration, other veteran groups and the federal government.

GWC is researching all of the chemical exposures which have occurred (and in some cases are

continuing to occur) to our service personnel serving in the Gulf War. Our research (and that of

others) has shown that for the majority of our exposure victim the common thread is their service in

Balad and Mosul on bases where burn pits were in operation 24/7. While the government is slowly

recognizing the hazards of the burn pits and moving to shut them down and replace them with

incinerators the effects of such toxic exposure has already taken it’s toll

Diseases related to chemical exposure can take years to manifest after the initial exposure, this is a

well documented medical fact. Unfortunately, the V.A. is not on the same page as the rest of us. The

V.A. is denying service connection to every veteran we have spoken to unless their illness manifested

within one year of their last date of service and even then the illness is not considered “service

connected” but is treated as any other diseases would be if it occurred within that one year period.

While it appears that attention is finally being paid to these veterans unless this particular ruling is

changed or updated new legislation or rulings created to assist veterans can not be effective. It is our

belief that the particular rulings must be updated or ruled invalid before the V.A. can or will move

forward to assist these veterans. Therefore one of greatest priorities is to appeal to the D.O.D., the V.

A., and anyone else who will work with us to change these rulings. In the meantime veterans who

become ill and/or die are not receiving proper benefits. This is particularly critical for those with life

threatening diseases and to the family members of those who have died.

This situation has been compared to the Viet Nam War and Agent Orange. It took over 40 years for

the V.A. to acknowledge the hazards of Agent Orange and it’s effect on our veterans. We are hoping

that our citizens and government will not allow such a traumatic error to occur again. Please review

this site and then take the time to contact your representatives and ask them to support GWC in our

work to help those who have served and paid such a heavy price.