From Norman Heinly
Your item in the Invention column states that the polyacrylamide compound used to stop dust blowing off airfields and roads degrades to an arcrylamide monomer that is a neurotoxin (21 May, p 29).
After operation Desert Storm in Iraq, lots of American and British soldiers complained of illnesses described as Gulf war syndrome. In seeking a cause of these illnesses, did anyone think of looking at this apparently innocuous product?
Bellevue, New England, US
