Gulf War syndrome

It should be noted that the Authority has decided in 2003 (and reaffirmed in 2010) that it will not make Statements of Principles concerning Gulf War syndrome for the purposes of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (the VEA) as the available sound medical-scientific evidence led the Authority to conclude that there was no unique Gulf War syndrome that could be a "disease" or "injury" as defined in section 5D of the Act.

In May 2014 on the basis of the currently available sound medical-scientific evidence, the Authority determined that there is insufficient evidence to designate a disease or injury specific to the Gulf War.

However, at that time the Authority recognised that there is a grouping of medically unexplained symptoms experienced by veterans of various deployments, as well as people in various civilian settings, and that these symptoms may cause significant distress and disability, such that they meet the definition of a disease.  The term that describes the disease sufficiently for the purposes of the VEA is "chronic multisymptom illness".

This disease is not restricted by deployment and can be used to include all veterans or serving members with symptoms which meet the definition.