S.Amdt. 2990

SA 2990. Mr. SANDERS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 1585, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle B of title II, add the following:

SEC. 214. GULF WAR ILLNESSES RESEARCH.

(a) Funding.--Of the amount authorized to be appropriated by section 201(1) for research, development, test, and evaluation for Army and available for Medical Advanced Technology, $15,000,000 shall be available for the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to carry out, as part of its Medical Research Program required by Congress, a program for Gulf War Illnesses Research.

(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the program shall be to develop diagnostic markers and treatments for the complex of symptoms commonly known as “Gulf War Illnesses (GWI)”, including widespread pain, cognitive impairment, and persistent fatigue in conjunction with diverse other symptoms and abnormalities, that are associated with service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations in the early 1990s during the Persian Gulf War.

(c) Program Activities.--

(1) Highest priority under the program shall be afforded to pilot and observational studies of treatments for the complex of symptoms described in subsection (b) and comprehensive clinical trials of such treatments that have demonstrated effectiveness in previous past pilot and observational studies.

(2) Secondary priority under the program shall be afforded to studies that identify objective markers for such complex of symptoms and biological mechanisms underlying such complex of symptoms that can lead to the identification and development of such markers and treatments.

(3) No study shall be funded under the program that is based on psychiatric illness and psychological stress as the central cause of such complex of symptoms (as is consistent with current research findings).

(d) Program.--The program shall be conducted--

(1) using competitive selection and peer review for the identification of activities having the most substantial scientific merit, utilizing individuals with recognized expertise in Gulf War illnesses in the design of the solicitation and in the scientific and programmatic review processes;