A LEADING expert on Gulf War Syndrome last night poured scorn on a new report which says the affliction is not unique to the 1991 conflict.

North-East Professor Malcolm Hooper said the study published in the British Medical Journal was "mischievous" and ignored a weight of evidence.

It looked at conflicts over the past century and found that all modern wars have been associated with a syndrome characterised by unexplained medical symptoms.

Prof Hooper, emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at Sunderland University, said: "Gulf War syndrome is a real thing and all the evidence from America suggests so. The 1991 conflict was the most toxic in military history and this new paper ignores the context in which wars have taken place."

Gulf War syndrome has often been attributed to environmental hazards, such as depleted uranium, pesticides and the side-effects of vaccinations.

But the authors of the report, led by Edgar Jones, of the Department of Psychological Medicine at Guy's, King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine, in London, suggested exposure to these things was unrelated to any subsequent illness.

This was because they found similar post-combat illnesses occurring after several wars.

Angus Parker, vice-chairman of the Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, who lives near Newcastle, said the report was an attempt to hide the truth.