You may be at risk of:

• Health problems caused by toxic chemicals or other hazardous materials in the environment, like:

  • Sand, dust, and particulates: Tiny matter found in the air
  • Depleted uranium: Uranium used in military tank armor and some bullets
  • Oil well fires: Oil or gas wells that caught on fire and burned
  • Chemical and biological weapons (Khamisiyah, Iraq): Chemicals released into the atmosphere from the demolition of a munitions storage depot in Khamisiyah, Iraq
  • Chemical Agent Resistant Coating (CARC) paint: A paint used on military vehicles to resist corrosion and chemical agents
  • Pesticides: Substances used to repel or destroy pests such as insects and pathogens

• Illnesses and injuries caused by:

  • Extreme heat: Health problems (like heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and sunburn) that can be caused by serving in hot desert climates
  • Toxic embedded fragments: Shrapnel and other metals (some containing chemicals) that stay in your body after an injury and can cause injury at the site of the fragment or in other parts of your body
  • Noise: Harmful sounds from guns, explosives, rockets, heavy weapons, jets and aircraft, and machinery that can cause or contribute to hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
  • Infectious diseases: There are 9 infectious diseases related to Southwest Asia and Afghanistan military service. These are malaria, brucellosis, campylobacter jejuni, coxiella burnetii (Q Fever), mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontyphoid salmonella, shigella, visceral leishmaniasis, and West Nile Virus.
  • Occupational (job-related) hazards: Chemicals, paints, radiation, and other hazards you may have come in contact with through your military job

• Possible side effects of:

  • Vaccinations: Vaccines given to help prevent infectious diseases as well as anthrax and botulinum toxoid. These vaccines are being studied as one possible cause of chronic multi-symptom illnesses in Gulf War Veterans.
  • Pyridostigmine bromide (PB): An anti-nerve agent pill used as a pretreatment to protect military personnel in the event of an attack with the nerve agent soman. So far, research shows that there’s no evidence to link PB to multi-symptom illnesses in Gulf War Veterans, but we continue to monitor these Veterans’ health issues.