ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 27, 1996 TAG: 9612270048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Army Maj. Gen. Leslie Burger, commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, will bring together federal and independent scientists next month to determine how to probe biochemist Garth Nicolson's research into ``mycoplasma,'' microorganisms known to sometimes cause disease.
Nicolson says he found a genetically altered version of mycoplasma in the blood of half of the several hundred sick veterans he has tested. He says antibiotics have successfully treated some.
At a meeting Monday, infectious disease experts agreed that investigating Nicolson's work ``is not an unreasonable approach,'' Walter Reed spokesman Ben Smith said Thursday.
Pentagon spokeswoman Donna Boltz cautioned that the government has not agreed to pay for actual medical research into mycoplasma and veterans.
Thousands of veterans of the 1991 war complain of memory loss, joint and muscle pain, depression, skin rashes and chronic fatigue. While the government insists there is no single ``Gulf War syndrome,'' suggested causes range from chemical weapons exposure to an interaction between the medications and vaccines soldiers were given.
Nicolson, director of the nonprofit Institute for Molecular Medicine in Irvine, Calif., contends the mycoplasma was genetically altered deliberately as a biological weapon.
The Pentagon had refused to collaborate with Nicolson, prompting Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., to arrange Monday's meeting.
``We owe it to the people who are still ill to look at this more thoroughly,'' Dicks said.
Nicolson could not be reached, but told the Post-Intelligencer in Seattle that only scientists independent of the Pentagon could be trusted to do an objective study.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB