North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 04/17/1996

It's Wednesday April 17th. Tonight a report on the possible cause of Gulf War Syndrome on North Carolina now. Hello everyone I'm worried I'm a tri welcome to this Wednesday edition of North Carolina now so glad she can join us tonight. We hadn't planned to bring you part three of Bob Gardner series on hiking the Appalachian Trail tonight but we're going to put that on hold to bring you the latest information on an. Ailment affecting many North Carolina military personnel Gulf War Syndrome. Also tonight we'll discuss the great need for organ and tissue donors in our state. And we'll take you to the NC State arboretum to view all the gorgeous red bugs that are in bloom. But first that update on the Gulf War Syndrome. A researcher from Duke University presented findings from his research into the causes of Gulf War Syndrome today to

veterans and defense officials. Those findings from a series of experiments is leading more credence to claims by many Gulf War veterans that they are battling a mysterious illness. The study was conducted by researchers at Duke University and the University of Texas. The research shows that for the first time that an anti nerve gas agent may indeed have made soldiers vulnerable to two pesticides widely used during the Gulf War the interaction between the three chemicals has been suspected to be the link of the so-called Gulf War Syndrome. In January Bob Garner looked at how this illness has affected the men and women of North Carolina who fought in Operation Desert Storm. Tonight we revisit them. At a special go for screening clinic at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Durham the chief neurologist Donald Schmeichel hears a familiar litany of complaints chronic fatigue and pain in joints. Severe headaches rashes numbness or tingling in the arms or legs. Some 700000 men and women served in the Gulf

War and around 40000 of them have complained of one or more of these symptoms or other conditions. All seemingly arising out of their Gulf service. Kevin Draper is one of more than 31000 Gulf that runs from North Carolina. He's now a student at USC Greensboro and says he deals with joint pain and swelling shaky hands and vision problems. Some days he says are worse than others when they can wake up feeling fine. Get out no problems and you know I have an active day do some sports or whatever and then just the next day could be this bad I just really don't feel like doing too much is getting up and walking going to class and walking up and down stairs things like that can really be a pain doctor Schmeichel says that while most don't. That's he sees just don't feel the way they used to feel. Most aren't completely disabled. A common patient that I see for example someone who's having these signs of illness and compliance and not feeling the same as they used to but is still doing

maybe missing a day of work or a day of school a month. Judy Wyatt of Mebane is now retired from the military. In addition to the medal she received for her service in the Gulf she brought home some other permanent reminders have been her mid left arm from shoulder. Sometimes it gets so bad to worse right now and then I lose all use of it. My pencil just dropped my hand and you are left handed left handed. Head hair loss. It's much thinner now than it was. You have to keep it short to make it look like out guts. I've had headaches headaches the lower my fact I've got research originally funded by billionaire Ross Perot points the finger first of all at the nerve gas tablets known as P. B. That American troops took in varying amounts under

orders. They watched us take the pills they made us put it on a spectum mouth afterwards. The Duke research also blames a couple of common spray insecticides used on uniforms and around living areas. Corporal FOSS and from Efren and insect repellent containing a chemical commonly known as DEET. Lab animals given only one of these chemicals including the anti nerve gas compound showed no nerve system damage but animals given to him or all develop significant injury using the chemicals together was apparently the problem. Bugs are really bad. Sand flies. Regular flies spiders things like that. So how would you apply the insect repellent. He remembered that we had a spray bottle with some stuff that we sprayed on our clothing or equipment and there was some stuff in a little green tube kind of like like lotion. Now deprived you know wherever you had some exposure there were people.

I forget what but their job description where that would take you know the containers of something or a long tense in the trains and sprang around. We assume insect repellent of some kind or some kind of insecticide somewhat like an exterminator might do like an exterminator. There are now some 14 other scientific studies underway it be a medical center's veterans have complained about the slowness of the government response to their problems. But part of the government's problem is that there has been no standard diagnosis for the collection of ailments. The Pentagon has concluded that there is no previously unknown disease that could be called Gulf War Syndrome. There are a variety of symptoms. Some physicians would say these are a variety of symptoms. They don't add up to one Syndrome treat the different symptoms but there is no disease here. But Schmeichel who is also an associate professor in the division of neurology at Duke Medical Center has another viewpoint.

It is conceivable to see exposures to chemicals either single or multiple or even the biologicals biological agent single or multiple that can end up giving you these kind of syndromes where you get disturbances in sleep differences and plain threshold perhaps migraines arthralgia is chronic fatigue lack of symptoms all of which by themselves seem like what's the problem but when added up together in one person add up to one person not feeling well at all. And in addition to the Gulf War veterans themselves not feeling very well. There's a strong suspicion among many people that the veterans chemical exposure may be the cause of what some seems like a high incidence of birth defects among their children. There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of serious health problems and infant mortality among children of Gulf War veterans. But the preliminary results of one department of defense study indicates that the rate of birth defects for children of Gulf veterans and those born to active duty military personnel who didn't serve in the Gulf were roughly the same. Critics of that position say the study was flawed on several counts. Furthermore the

critics contend the Government General Accounting Office has publicly criticized the Department of Defense for allegedly failing to properly warn Gulf War troops of their potential exposure to 21 different reproductive toxins or poisons. It seems clear that research into the area of birth defects is only beginning. Meanwhile even though the V.A. has somewhat relaxed its procedure on benefits eligibility for veterans with certain symptoms there's still frustration that not all of the reported ailments are recognized Judy Wyatt says the V.A. has basically brushed her complaints aside. What do they say about the fact that you can hardly hold a pencil after you write your name with your main writing hand. They just tell me it was in their hand. I was imagining that was all in my head that I was during minute up. And Kevin Trenberth who says he would do it all over again if he were needed is frustrated by what he sees as extremely slow progress in recognizing Gulf War Syndrome as a valid illness or condition.

I'm not bitter not about going over there. There were things that were going to happen but about how slow thanks are taken now to get some kind of recognition about what's happened. That puts them better. We spoke with Sergeant John nevus at Fort Bragg today about the findings of a new study. Sergeant Davis you'll remember suffers from Gulf War Syndrome and he and his wife Reine were guests on our program in January. He said that he and his wife feel that anything in the direction of an answer to this illness is good and they're glad someone has been studying the problem. He says now that the civilian community has made strides in finding out more about it that the government needs to step in and help those battling the illness. As a spokesperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington says the search is continuing for other possible causes of the illness. Later in the program are you registered to be an organ donor. In our interview segment we'll try to convince you of the importance. But before we get to that we're going to head over to Mitchell Lewis of the North Carolina now news

desk for a summary of today's statewide news. Hello Mitch. Hello there Maria. Good evening everyone. Senator Jesse Helms is sponsoring a bill that seeks to tack on 10 additional years to a sentence for anyone convicted of possessing a weapon while committing a crime. Just last December the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a similar federal law that a law mandated an additional five years for someone quote using a weapon. The high court took issue with the word use and struck down the law the Helms bill is written to correct the wording problem and is now under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee. A new report on ovarian cancer links the age of the patient to the possibility that the cause of the disease may be genetic. The report published today is based on preliminary studies conducted at Duke University and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Research Triangle Park. It says that a woman under the age of 50 with ovarian cancer has a 10 to 20 percent chance that the cancer is caused by a faulty gene. If the gene is passed to the patient's

daughter the daughter has a 90 percent chance of developing ovarian or breast cancer. The same gene may also affect the development of prostate cancer in men. An agreement will allow one of the American to resume some controversial production at its Randolph County plant but only on a limited basis. The state health director says the company will be allowed to poor foam for one hour out of every 24 and that can only be done after installing 10 foot stacks to reduce hazardous emissions from the process. Serenity Mills was also installing operating equipment to monitor air quality. The plant was ordered closed last week because chemicals emit it during the foam making process were blamed for making area residents ill. And NC State University has a new basketball head coach. The announcement came today at a Raleigh press conference that former Miami of Ohio Coach Herb Sendek has agreed to a five year contract to coach the Wolfpack Syndic replaces Les Robinson who resigned last month. Taking a look at tomorrow's weather sunny skies are on tap from the mountains to the coast. Temperatures will

reach well into the 70s for most of the state with the exception of Boone. Expect highs around 78 degrees in the triangle and around Fayetteville. Near perfect spring conditions will make for a beautiful outdoor day for the entire state. In business news this Wednesday for the second time in less than five years Randall's is filing for Chapter 11 reorganization. Officials at the discount chain say they will close 18 of its 30 stores and rework its merchandise lines rentals completed a similar reorganization in 1994. And now here's a look at what happened on Wall Street today. April is National organ and tissue donor awareness month. Its purpose is to focus on the

critical need for donors nationwide and the importance of family discussion about donations so loved ones can be prepared to make decisions for one another if necessary. Joining me now is a person who's had to make that very tough decision. Her father was an organ donor. And along with MS McLaughlin is Dana logic or of the Carolina Organ Procurement Agency Ladies welcome to the program. Thank you. There's a lot of her let's start with you and talk about the need that exists here in North Carolina for organ donation. Well the national numbers that just came out indicate that there are over forty six thousand people nationwide on the waiting list for organs this number has almost doubled just in the past year in North Carolina that translates to about 2000 people. Keep in mind we have five transplant centers in North Carolina so we have we're a big state for transplants and a big point that you really stress to families out there is to talk about this ahead of time so it's a decision they don't have to face in the emergency room correct.

Right. Facing the death of your loved one is traumatic enough having to then make the decision of whether to donate organs or not is just doubly traumatic. So the families who have the discussion before us they're discussing their will or any other things that they would have to do is any other important matters I would have to discuss if they can have this discussion doesn't have to be long and involved over the dinner table by the way if anything ever happens to me I want to be an organ donor donor card. That's all it takes. And that is just it's makes an incredible difference. OK miserable often you are someone who has had to make this very difficult decision. At what point did you make the decision. My mother actually made the decision that the final decision once my father had been declared dead. But it was something that we had discussed years before. As a matter of fact before my father actually passed away and that that would involve an extensive family history that I'm sure you don't have time for me to cover right now but it was not a new subject to our family so it made it. While it was difficult to

make that decision and I'm sure took a great deal of courage on the mother's part it was much easier to support her and to make a favorable decision because we had discussed it before. So when is that something that you would suggest to other families out there to make sure that they talk about this ahead of time. Absolutely. In fact my husband and I have discussed every year on his birthday is when we update information for wills and life insurance policies and such things as that and we've just kind of made it. A family meeting in a way that on his birthday is we will discuss whatever is going to happen to us in the future and in the event that either of us should survive the other and have to make this decision we each of us knows quite well the other's opinion on the subject and we've made a decision about our children as well. The decision to donate your father's organs was that something that either yourself or your mother had turned out to regret. Never. Not for a moment.

And as I said I know it was very difficult for my mother to stay in there when faced with that decision immediately to say to go ahead and say yes take his heart take his kidneys and know that that was very difficult for her. But. I'm sorry I just completely lost my train of thought. It did make it easier having discussed it before and it was something that she I think was prepared for because because of because of that about it ahead of time and it's never easy when you lose someone you love. But no it isn't in knowing that even though my father's life ended he saved three other lives and the gratification I think that comes from that. Whatever part role I might have played in it gives me tremendous satisfaction I mean the gratification is something that is unparalleled as far as I'm concerned. I know that probably what Miss Michael often has just said should be enough to convince people to become organ donors. But you also have a rather public service campaign that

you just initiated today to try to encourage people to become involved in organ donations. Won't you tell us a little bit about them. We're very very excited about this about two years ago the National Ad Council the same people who did Smokey the Bear and the test crash dummies agreed to take on organ tissue donation as a topic. And this year the third year of the rollout actually is a second year but as a second part of the second year we're very very excited to have Michael Jordan agree to be our new spokes person nationally for organ and tissue donation and all of the posters and public service announcements and display items and done our cards with Michael Jordan on them and his personal appearances are we feel is going to help us tremendously to get the message out especially in the minority communities. And we have a copy of that public service announcement that has just been released today so this is hot off the press it is a lot of press is go ahead and roll that now so they can take a look at it. A family I don't even know save my life. Their son

died in a crash before the accident he told his family he wanted to be an organ and tissue don't. I think their family every day that can be make a decision to become an organ and tissue donor be sure that your family knows your wishes and remember. Share your life. Share your decision for a free brochure. Call 1 8 5 5 share those like you have touched upon something before we went to that PSA about encouraging members of the African-American community to donate their organs is there a particular need there. There is with most organs it doesn't matter right chalet or gender wise how they are transplanted. But with kidneys it's different. Kidneys have to have what's called an antigen match and that match is better if you stick Rice to rice and this is a hard fast rule but generally the match the kidney will not reject if you stay Rice to rice so African-American

African-American Caucasian Caucasian Pacific Pacific Islander there's less chance of rejection. About two thirds of the people on the waiting list nationally are African-Americans waiting for those kidneys. So in order for them to have those good antigen matches we're going to have to have more African-American donors and fewer African-American people donate their organs as opposed to other races so we really need to encourage we do everyone to get involved. Well ladies I want to thank you very much for being here tonight unfortunately we're out of time and doing a lot of girl want to thank you for your time in MS. McLaughlin thank you I know it's not a easy subject to talk about but we appreciate hearing from you this evening. Thank you so much. And. Spring has finally sprung and nowhere is that more evident than at the NC State armory.

Producer Kim Hawkes takes us there. Today I am in Raleigh at the North Carolina State University arboretum where director and professor of horticulture Dr. Jesse Ross has spent the last 20 years researching and collecting plants all over the world from North Carolina gardens in North Carolina. We're fortunate to have a climate that will allow us to grow a diversity of plants. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Ralston the Arboretum and the North Carolina Association of nurserymen. Many of these plants are becoming available for North Carolina gardeners every year. For instance in this fund the world's largest collection of red Magnolia is in Indiana's. Let's see what J.C. is up to today. Thank you I say. Right. Wow look at you know Redbud's Good to

see you Kim where this time of year really in the peak of Redbud season it's an exciting time because there are so many different types that are coming and going in just a matter of a couple of weeks. Yes what we're looking for is some of the variance that people might have for their gardens beyond just the wild species I see along the roadside at this time of year. They're used to sort of that magenta purple color which is beautiful. But if you have a bright red brick house it may not be the thing so there is a alternative that can work out very well read but I've never seen one. This is incredible. And you've got the world's largest collection of red dots here. When you say the largest collection how many species of red bugs are there. There's about 12 species they come from all over the world quite surprisingly one of the names that Pavan often give to this group of plants are Judas trees and there is one species that grows in Israel and the legend is that this is the tree that Judas hanged himself from originally according to legend a white flower tree that became purple in mourning for death there and we have that plant here. There's also several American

species of course and when you see everywhere and then about half a dozen species from China so we really are representing the world. Fantastic What kind of selections are being made are you selecting for flower or is a lot more variation most people would think. Color is one and they see the white as a variation but also there's a good clear pink in the market now that doesn't have a magenta in it so you know that one is called Pink charm and then we have a new in this brand new that's not in the trade but it's coming quickly called Appalachian red it is the most striking I think of all the color and gets the most favorable response from any visitor that comes through here. Same with different forms. Read backs how come we are finding them in the garden center. Well they have been a more difficult group for nourishment to work with us to do vegetative propagation for these name cults of ours requires budding of these and that's a very difficult thing on Redbud's they have them bark only the most professional nourishment can handle it so they're rarer

and harder to find but they are coming as a good demand for them and they're available if people really hot and look for them. Now we know it's growing along the edges of the woods in terms of culture in the car. Would you recommend what gardeners need to be aware of already. That's a pretty tough plants grow in almost any kind of a site wet or dry sand or clay. They probably benefit as much as anything by being in good sunlight. They are not really happy shade loving plants and they will certainly flower much less in those areas particularly with the wild species the magenta as they really look good against a dark background to highlight that while you often see them with red cedar sand they just sort of glow against the background so you need to have them where they are framed against something you can see them well. Thanks Casey for sharing your wonderful red dot collection with us in the arboretum today. It's been great having you here and we look forward to your next visit every day 365 days of the year there's something new blooming here and a new plant to be discovered.

The NC State operating is located on Beryl road south of Hillsborough Street near the state fairgrounds in Raleigh. It is open every day from sunrise to sunset and admission is free. If you would like more information call 9 1 9 5 1 5 3 1 3 2. That's our program for tonight on tomorrow's edition of North Carolina now we'll take you down to Key Largo to explore an underwater research center operated by you and see Wilmington have a great night everyone will see it tomorrow.