WSU to Study Iraq Toxins' Effect
Spokesman-Review
by Bert Caldwell
Research to examine how exposure might damage offspring of soldiers
Washington State University scientists will use a $1.7 million grant to study what multi-generation genetic damage might be done by toxins U.S. troops could encounter in Iraq.
The research using laboratory rats, not humans, will be the first for the military to examine the epigenetic effects of pesticides, herbicides and other compounds, said lead scientist Michael Skinner, director of the university's Center for Reproductive Biology.
Previous studies have looked at the health effects of other substances, notably the Agent Orange used to defoliate jungles in Vietnam, on the soldiers directly exposed, he said, not on their children or grandchildren.
"The science really had not caught up with the trans-generational stuff," said Skinner, one of several WSU pioneers in the field of epigenetic, or multi-generational, inheritance.
Besides herbicides and pesticides – which and in what combinations has not been determined – the study also will look at the effects of explosives residues, he said.
The four-year study will allow researchers to see how any changes in genetic chemistry that develop are passed along through two subsequent generations of rats, he said, noting that only the first two years of research have been funded.
Among the problems that might develop are kidney disease, or changes in the male and female reproductive organs, he said.
If any genetic markers are identified in rats, Skinner said, follow-up research could look at whether they might show up among members of the military as well.
That would be of particular interest to Dave Holmes, interim chief operating officer of the Institute for Systems Medicine, which was awarded the U.S. Department of Defense grant passed through to Skinner.
Holmes' son, Tim Hammond, did two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps.
"They sprayed all kinds of stuff on them," Holmes said.
Although the grant money, the first awarded ISM, will fund work in Pullman, he said the organization's supporters hope any subsequent clinical studies will be done in Spokane.
"There's a lot of excitement about making it happen," he said.
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Honor Flights offered for WWII veterans
By Caroline Boyer
March 10, 2010
Gary Swanson hopes that as many World War II veterans as possible have a chance to visit the Washington, D.C., memorial built to honor them.
The Leawood resident spoke Friday at the Cedar Roe branch of the Johnson County Library in Roeland Park about an effort to help veterans like Roy Shenkel of Shawnee do just that. Swanson and Shenkel shared memories of the Honor Flights that have been organized for the aging veterans of World War II so they can visit the memorial, completed in 2004.
Swanson has spent the past several years recording interviews with World War II veterans in the metropolitan area as part of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project; he has now interviewed nearly 1,000 veterans.
It was in the process of doing the interviews that he learned about the Honor Flights, an effort started by a man in Ohio to provide free flights for veterans to spend a day at the World War II memorial in Washington. The flights are funded through donations to the national Honor Flight Network, and Swanson became one of the flight organizers for the Kansas City area.
Three flights for Kansas City-area veterans have been organized so far, and a fourth is in the works. About 55 people can go on each flight, most of them veterans, some with caregivers.
They leave early in the morning, take a bus tour of the capital and make the all-important stop at the World War II memorial, and most groups fly home the same day.
It often takes the aging veterans a few days to recover from the whirlwind day trip, but all report it is worth it, Swanson said.
“The highlight of the thing really is for the veterans to be together,” Swanson said. “… There’s just that shared, common bond that an outsider will never understand.”
Shenkel, who also shared some of his experiences during the war as a prisoner of war, went on an honor flight in 2008. He said the experience was moving.
“You see the monuments, but your mind goes back (to your war experiences),” he said.
For more information about Honor Flights, contact Swanson at gswanson@kc.rr.com or visit honorflight.org.
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