Ecology and Environment, Inc. Reports UNCC Fails to Establish International Precedent for Damages to Public Health BUFFALO, N.Y., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The decision by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) to refuse compensation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for adverse health effects to the Kingdom's population during and after the 1990-1991 Gulf War is lamented by the research team assembled to assess these impacts. The team was composed of Ecology and Environment, Inc. technical and medical staff and scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. In 2001, the UNCC provided funding support to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the research. The UNCC panel was established in 1998 to resolve claims against Iraq for environmental and public health damages related to the 1990- 91 Gulf War. The E&E public health team presented results from their assessment of the public health impacts from the 1990-91 Gulf War and the oil well fires on the population of Saudi Arabia to the UNCC in numerous technical submittals and at a September 2004 hearing in Geneva, Switzerland. The results of the team's assessment indicated that exposure to war-related air pollution and trauma had a significant impact on the health of the population of Saudi Arabia. The lead public health staff for Ecology and Environment, Inc. are Dr. Richard V. Lee, Medical Director for Ecology and Environment and Professor of Medicine and Anthropology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Dr. Cristopher Williams, Senior Toxicologist. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health investigations were led by Dr. Jonathan M. Samet, Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Co-Director of the Risk Sciences and Public Policy Institute, and Dr. Patrick Breysse, Director of the Division of Environmental Health Engineering in the Bloomberg School's Department of Environmental Health Sciences. The investigations involved a multi-task research effort including a human health risk assessment, an evaluation of historical hospital-based records and air pollution data, and a survey of exposure to air pollution during the Gulf War and the current health status of 20,000 Saudi citizens. A quantitative risk assessment was developed to calculate the number of premature deaths associated with the population's exposure to increased particulate matter air pollution. Analysis of monitored air pollution levels during and immediately after the Gulf War indicated that the war-exposed area sustained a substantial increase in particulate matter levels. A large body of scientific studies documenting a link between increasing concentrations of particulates and the rise of premature death was reviewed, and an estimate of the increased risk of premature death was developed. Based on these data, the public health research team estimated that almost 1,400 premature deaths resulted from the exposure to increased particulate matter levels. The Exposure and Health Survey (EHS) was one of the largest public health surveys ever conducted in the Middle East. The survey was developed using verifiable survey instruments. Trained interviewers surveyed approximately 15,000 people randomly selected from communities that had been exposed to high levels of air pollution from the Gulf War oil fires and from the exhaust emitted by the large number of military vehicles used in the conflict, as well as to war-related traumatic events. Data from these interviews were compared with a sample of approximately 5,000 people who lived in areas not heavily impacted by the Gulf War air pollution. Analysis of the results from the Exposure and Health Survey indicated that people living in areas that were exposed to high levels of air pollution were at two to three times increased risk of suffering from health problems including asthma, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory conditions, as well as cardiovascular disease, when compared to people who had lived in areas not experiencing the Gulf War- related air pollution. The Exposure and Health Survey also identified a substantial increase in the risk of the exposed population of experiencing symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the increase ranging from two to five-fold depending on the evaluation criteria selected. Subsequent to the completion of the Exposure and Health Survey, a randomly selected group of participants were recalled for an interview in greater depth and a laboratory and physical examination carried out by medical centers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The results of this evaluation indicated good consistency in reportage in the original interview and questionnaire and the subsequent interview and clinical examination. Combining the Exposure and Health Survey findings of increased health risks with projections of the number of exposed Saudis out to the year 2030 using standard life-table methodology, the Gulf War events were calculated to result in 2 million excess hospital visits, 6 million excess visits to hospital outpatient departments, and 23 million excess visits to primary health care centers over time. "The danger, of course," commented Dr. Lee, "is that the dismissal of the public health claims by the United Nations Claims Commission will be interpreted to mean that there were no health consequences to the War and the oil well fires. Nothing could be further from the truth!" In support of Dr. Lee's position, Dr. Samet noted that "The consistent findings of increased adverse health outcomes, both physical and mental, indicate that exposure to air pollutants, military activities, and other negative factors associated with the Gulf War compromised the health and well being of residents of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The impact of these events can be expected to result in increased health care costs and reduced quality of life for the Saudi population. Dr. Lee adds, "There are two carefully done studies, one by the Kuwait- Harvard University team, and the other by the Saudi E&E-Johns Hopkins team, that clearly document the increased adverse health effects of the War and its aftermath on the citizens of those countries. Given the scientifically rigorous analytical methods used and the results of the E&E team's analysis, it is difficult to understand that the evidence presented by the government of Saudi Arabia was labeled insufficient to support the claim for damages to public health. Further, the UNCC dismissal on economic and strictly legal grounds is not supported by the scientific evidence. Perhaps the most dangerous impact of the UNCC decision is the notion that injuries to the health of residents in war situations because of environmental degradation and destruction are not important. With no liability assigned to the perpetrators, the UNCC has failed to establish an international precedent for damages to public health that are the consequences of armed conflict. Effectively, there is little to discourage future targeting of natural resources and the environment for vandalism and for purposeful harm to large numbers of noncombatant civilians." Ecology and Environment, Inc is headquartered in Lancaster, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. Its common stock is listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol EEI. E & E can be located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ene.com/. DATASOURCE: Ecology and Environment, Inc. CONTACT: Ronald Frank, +1-716-684-8060, for Ecology and Environment, Inc. Web site: http://www.ene.com/

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