A FORMER combat medic whose life was destroyed by "Gulf War Syndrome" has welcomed an admission from the Ministry of Defence that soldiers have been poisoned by pesticides used in the desert. Andrew Honer, aged 39, a surgical technician from Little Hulton, volunteered to serve in the Gulf War to treat servicemen wounded in the fighting. But within a year of returning home with a clutch of medals for his part in the liberation of Kuwait in 1990, his health started to decline and his life fell apart as his marriage to wife Carol broke down and he lost contact with his son.

He made contact with other veterans who campaigned for the Government to officially recognise the existence of a Gulf Syndrome.

Ironically, while the Ministry of Defence was denying the existence of Gulf War Syndrome, a British court used the condition against him to stop him from seeing his son Daniel for more than four hours a month.

But now, campaigning ex-servicemen have seized on admissions from the Government that the pesticides containing organophosphates were widely used, as evidence that the MoD was responsible for bringing on their illnesses.

A letter from Defence Minister Nicholas Soames to the Commons Defence Select Committee admits that the use of these pesticides was more widely used than had been previously thought.

Mr Honer, who now lives in Essex, where he works as a hospital surgical technician, said: "This is a very important breakthrough and is a major stand down from their original declarations that Gulf War Syndrome does not exist.

Mr Honer is still on medication for his illness to control depressions and mood swings.

He is disgusted at the behaviour of the Army and the MoD, who have refused to take vets' concerns seriously and still do not accept the existence of a single illness which can be described as Gulf War Syndrome.

He says he knows there are serving soldiers who are still suffering from the Syndrome but they are persecuted when they attempt to bring it to the attention of the authorities.

Mr Honer says his patriotism has been severely dented by his experiences and is now planning to leave the UK.

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