o had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma.Most of what pushes the Gulf War Syndromes myth is the very simple: ifsomething happens after a given event, it must have been caused by the event. The GulfWar Syndrome fallacy is basically like this: the veterans were healthy wen they went tothe war, but now they are sick. Therefore, it must have be ill because of something in theGulf War. There have been many claims of different causes of the Gulf War Syndrome. Suchas: experimental drugs, flies, vaccines, scud fuel, and Aflatoxin. It is becoming verycommon for someone to say that one thing is definitely the cause, then later on to insistthat something else is definitely the cause of Gulf War Syndrome. Nightline had a GulfWar Syndrome show which without a doubt showed that Gulf War Syndrome was realand that it was spreading. They first claimed that it was caused by nerve gas. Then theyblamed the pyridostigmine bromide pills that the veterans had taken. Then later on theyblamed it on the fumes from the oil wells. None of these could cause symptoms that arecommunicable.According to Rep. Evans, "The commonality of experiences that (Gulf Warveterans) have faced seem to be fairly convincing that they are suffering serious problems .. ." But experts note that they have very little commonality at all. Rather, the list ofsymptoms is both huge and diverse, quite the opposite of what one would expect if theyhad a single cause. Indeed, the net has been cast so wide as to include even medicalproblems of soldiers' spouses. One soldier speaking at a congressional hearing describedhow his wife is "beginning to suffer pains in her joints."But there are many who firmly believe that the nerve gas is the cause of Gulf WarSyndrome. The firing of mustard gas and nerve gas was one of the biggest fears of manysoldiers on the line. So many of the veterans seeking a cause for their symptoms decidedthat they must have been gassed. There are now some ve...
