Gulf War veterans can claim disability compensation for war-related illnesses through 2001 under new reg-ulations issued by the Veterans Affairs Department.
The rules put in place this week expand the current policy in which veterans have been eligible for compensation only if their symptoms appeared within two years of their service in the 1991 war.President Clinton announced his intentions last March to extend eligibility to 10 years, saying that "gulf War veterans who became ill as a result of their service should receive the compensation they deserve, even if science cannot yet pinpoint the cause of their illnesses."
Thousands of service members returned from the war against Iraq suffering from a variety of ailments, some of which have defied diagnosis and have come to be called gulf war syndrome.
Veterans groups have cited alleged exposure to Iraqi chemical or biological weapons, air pollutants, parasites and vaccines as possible causes.
The VA said it has processed 66,000 service-connected compensation claims from the gulf war. It said 28,000 veterans are receiving disability compensation, 803 for undiagnosed illnesses.