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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VA cuts health care spending with in-home monitoring systems
The Veterans Affairs Department has used in-home monitoring and teleconferencing systems to cut hospital admissions by 19 percent and save tens of thousands of dollars in patient care, results that have implications for lowering U.S. health care spending if a national broadband network can be established, a top official at the Federal Communications Commission told a Senate hearing.
Mohit Kaushal, health care director for FCC, told a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging on April 22 that through the remote systems clinicians used to treat patients at home, VA has reduced hospital admissions for 32,000 patients enrolled in its Care Coordination Home Telehealth Program.
The department also saved tens of thousands of dollars a year by using the in-home monitoring system. The annual cost to check on veterans in their home was $1,600 per patient compared with $13,121 for home-based primary care services and $77,745 per patient per year for care in a nursing home.
Kaushal said the United States could cut at least $200 billion during the next 25 years if it could use home telehealth systems, which require a broadband network.
Iraqi war veteran Joseph "Jay" Briseno Jr., who was paralyzed and blinded by his wounds and lives in Northern Virginia outside Washington, is among the patients helped by the system. VA said it uses broadband technology like videoconferencing systems to monitor his condition and care, including operation of a ventilator and cameras to check Briseno's skin condition.
The department has given veterans with diabetes devices to conduct glucose tests at home. The equipment automatically records patients' weight and blood pressure, and the results are transmitted to a VA hospital.
The department requested a home telehealth budget of $175 million for fiscal 2011, but Republicans on the House Veterans Affairs Committee recommended in March that the budget be increased to $215 million, or 23 percent.
