¡¡¡¡LONDON, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- British veterans of the 1991 Gulf War suffering from unexplained illnesses who thought they had achieved a breakthrough in their seven-year campaign against the British Ministry of Defense have had their hopes dashed, the British Times newspaper reported Monday.

¡¡¡¡There was still no evidence of any single factor or syndrome linking veterans' illness to the war, Ivor Caplin, the minister for veterans, was quoted as saying. He also denied that a recent statement issued by the Ministry of Defense had altered the British government's position.

¡¡¡¡According to the paper, the ministry had said in a written parliamentary answer that a few weeks before the war started in January 1991, the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control had given a warning of the potential hazards of injecting troops with a combination of anthrax and whooping cough vaccines.

¡¡¡¡The veterans have always suspected that one of the main causes of what was originally called Gulf War Syndrome was the cocktail of vaccines they were given to protect against any Iraqi chemical or biological attacks.

¡¡¡¡Gulf War Syndrome, associated with a vast array of symptoms including fatigue, nausea, fever and depression, has been attributed to stress, smoke from oil-burning wells, injections, depleted uranium ammunition and other causes, although many believe the nebulous condition could be psychosomatic.

¡¡¡¡The United States and Britain have refused to accept a direct link between the war and the syndrome, even though they have spenthundreds of millions of dollars researching possible causes. Enditem