A Bitter Pill?

The government has dealt a "final blow" to thousands of Gulf War veterans who believe that they have been suffering from illnesses related to their service in the 1991 conflict with Iraq:

GULF WAR veterans suffering from illnesses since the 1991 conflict were told yesterday that, after 15 years’ research, no single cause had been found for their health problems.

The final judgment on “Gulf War syndrome”, dismissing it as a recognisable disease, was delivered by scientists from the Royal Society, the leading science academy in Britain.

In a study of all the work carried out into the syndrome since the conflict, the Royal Society said that it was time to call a halt. “I believe there is little value in conducting further research into the causes,” Simon Wessely, the co-director of King’s College Centre for Military Health Research, said.

Like thousands of other soldiers, Army veteran Mike Woods said he developed bizarre symptoms after serving in the first Gulf War -- blackouts, chest pain and numbness in the extremities.

Woods looked to the Veterans Administration for help. He said his VA doctor prescribed him a drug called Obecalp.

"She told me there was this new drug out that would really help me with all of my physical conditions, and my pain. She really wanted me to try it," said Woods.

But when the pill provided no relief, Woods did some research and learned that Obecalp isn't a medicine at all, but a sugar pill. He was shocked to learn the word "obecalp" is placebo spelled backward.