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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Journeys End
By Greyhawk http://www.mudvillegazette.com/
"There's a power in people who dream big and try hard," reads the simple statement at the top of Jenna Wilcox' milblog. If you've never read it, it's still online - but she won't be adding new entries.
"This will be my last entry," the young U.S. Air Force captain recently posted. "Both Scott and I are home, safe and sound and I no longer have a reason to continue with this blog."
She and her husband had completed their Afghanistan tours - Air Force officers serving with the US Army. On Jenna's Blog Captain Wilcox documented life in a combat zone, from collecting school supplies for local children to efforts to curb violence against Afghan women to her frustration with certain "strategies and tactics," she captured it all - including love...
Love in a war zone unlike love anywhere else. It is simple. Unrefined.
There are no quarrels, because death is imminent. Do you really want your last conversation to be in anger?
...and war:
I might as go ahead and explain how I was on a convoy that was hit with an IED. It happened in early November and we were on the way back from the mission when one of our trucks took a baby IED. I wasn't in the truck...I was very far away but I heard the explosion and saw the cloud of smoke. I think my heart literally stopped and the next two minutes were the scariest of my life. I kept on waiting for the secondary attack, but thankfully it never came. Luckily, everyone was okay, no injuries, and we only had to replace the tire on the truck.
So now everyone will worry about me as I head back to Afghanistan for the final two months. But please don't! I know that Scott and I are being protected. Too many uncanny things have happened for me not to know that we will be okay.
And they did return safely to their "home station" - RAF Mildenhall, the UK. Then she and Scott set out on a well deserved vacation.
The couple - who were holidaying in Scotland having both recently returned from Afghanistan - had changed the wheel of their black BMW Z3 after spotting a bulge in the tyre. They replaced it with the space saver tyre but could not fit the full-size wheel in the boot because it was full of luggage, leaving Ms Wilcox to hold it on her lap.
They had pulled into the forecourt of GP Autos on Dalkeith's Edinburgh Road last Saturday afternoon when the explosion happened.
The tire exploded - a blast that "blew out the windows of the couple's sports car, left the 27-year-old critically injured and her husband Scott, who also serves in the US air force, wounded."
Local chip shop worker Jamal Alobaidi, 49, was one of the first on the scene after the blast. He was at the window of the shop on the town's High Street when he spotted the car pull up. "Seconds later I heard a loud bang, almost like a gunshot," he said. "I rushed out and I could see the man screaming for help. I rushed back to phone the emergency services.
"When I came back, the woman was lying on her back on the road, not moving, with her eyes closed.
"She was taken to Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, where she succumbed to her injuries," said Scottish Police Inspector David Muir. Captain Wilcox was assigned to RAF Mildenhall's 100th Civil Engineering Squadron, and originally from the Buffalo, N.Y. area. She was 27.
