LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: A new report on Gulf War illness today concludes there isn't enough evidence to say for sure what made U.S. troops sick. Here's CNN's Brian Cabell.</s>BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seven hundred thousand American troops were deployed to the Middle East during the Gulf War. Tens of thousands of them came back sick. But almost a decade later, doctors and scientists still can't decide whether the soldiers' illnesses were the result of exposure to chemical and biological agents in the Gulf.</s>HAROLD SOX, NATIONAL ACADEMIES' INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE: The bottom line is that we simply don't know enough to say whether there is a connection between exposure to these agents, or combinations of these agents, and specific health outcomes that remain long after the time of exposure.</s>CABELL: The new report from the National Academies' Institute of Medicine looked specifically at four possible exposures: the nerve agent Sarin; the tablet Pyridostigmine Bromide, designed to counter the effects of nerve agents; vaccines to prevent Anthrax and Botulism; and depleted Uranium. In all cases, the report said, there was not enough evidence from previous studies to support a link between the agents and the soldiers' long-term illnesses. The scientists say the report was handicapped by a lack of information from the Gulf -- the exact dosages and exposures the troops may have received.</s>SOX: Without that crucial piece of information, we cannot draw conclusions about whether the agents present in the Gulf War are the cause of health problems in individual soldiers.</s>CABELL: The report recommends further study of all the agents to determine whether they might have had long-term effects on troops deployed in the Gulf. Brian Cabell, CNN.
New Report on Gulf War Illness Lacks Enough Evidence to Support Conclusions