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SALT LAKE CITY - A national organization is
interested in finding out if Utah's high rate of multiple sclerosis is
in any way linked to decades of Army testing of germ, nerve gas and
radiological weapons.
Researchers for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society are in the
beginning stages of trying to answer the question. Nevertheless, they
acknowledge that studies may take years and that shaky finances might
prevent completion.
Dr. Mathilde Solowey, a volunteer epidemiologist at the New York City
headquarters of the MS Society, said Utah is one of several places
nationally that is collecting data on whether MS a disease of the
nervous system possibly connected to viral infections, might be tied
to environmental causes.
Solowey told the Deseret News in a copyright news report that the
group is currently collecting names of Utahans with MS, when they were
diagnosed, where they lived and what substances to which they may have
been exposed.
"It may allow a future researcher to uncover a causative agent," she
said.
Joyce Stromberg, a Tooele resident who says, her daughter was among
the youngest people ever diagnosed with MS at age 15, is a volunteer
project coordinator with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Stromberg is involved in gathering data about residents of Tooele
County --- where many Army tests were conducted at Dugway Proving
Grounds, who have the disease.
"A study by the University of Utah found the rate of MS in Tooele
County is seven times higher than the national average," she said.
"The oversell rate for utah is twice the national average".
The neurologist at the University who Stromberg credits with
discovering those high rates declined several interview requests.
Stromberg said she can't help but think the military testing is
somehow related to the high incidence of MS.
"I have questions about why all this is happening here. Obviously, the
fact those tests happened here makes you wonder," she said.
Recent reports show that 328 open-air germ warfare tests are known to
have occurred at Dugway, 1,174 open-air tests of chemical arms, mostly
nerve gas and 74 tests of arms that spread radioactive particles to
the wind.
* Thank you Marsha Jean Ledeman for this file. |
