Gulf war syndrome needs coordinated study

The attempt to explain mysterious illnesses among American veterans of the Gulf war has produced a confusing array of disorganised studies, according to the United States Institute of Medicine, the group asked by Congress to report on the syndrome. Until now the studies have been too small or too poorly designed to test whether a single syndrome exists, says the report from the institute's committee, published last week. “The government must determine which research efforts should be dropped because their usefulness has ebbed and which study gaps persist,” said the chairman of the committee, John Bailar III, professor of …