‘Gulf war syndrome’ accepted

A breakthrough for claimants is the acceptance by the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (PAT), sitting in Leeds, that ‘Gulf War syndrome’ is attributable to military service. This acceptance came in a ruling in favour of a claim by former sergeant Shaun Rusling. The PAT stated: ‘The tribunal finds that the injury, wound or disease on which the claim is based, namely Gulf War syndrome, is attributable to service.’ However, the tribunal stopped short of accepting that it was proven that his debilitating illnesses were directly caused by injection of multiple vaccines.