MONDAY, MAY 10, 1999

Anthrax vaccine creates disaster

Would you take the anthrax vaccine, the U.S. Army's vaccine for the deadly biological agent anthrax?

If you know what it has done to once healthy people, you wouldn't.

The problem is many Americans who fought in the Gulf War are now sick and suffering from debilitating Gulf-War related illnesses.

Symptoms first surfaced in January of 1991, when veterans began complaining of rashes, chronic fatigue, hair loss, memory loss, muscle and joint pain, headaches, and numbness in the extremities.

Although symptoms ran the gamut, there were parallels between recipients.

Dr. Gregory Dubay said in a Vanity Fair article that he commanded the 129th Medical Company and gave thousands of anthrax vaccinations to troops.

He revealed that he was under strict orders not to record the inoculations in the soldiers' medical records, and that the troops were not given a chance to decline the shots. So much for the principle of voluntary, informed consent.

Each soldier had to read a classified sheet of instructions stating that he or she was receiving a secret shot for reasons of operational security.

Then, according to Vanity Fair, the empty vials, boxes and package inserts were allegedly burned or destroyed in an attempt to keep the enemy from knowing U.S. soldiers were vaccinated.

The Army has very little ground to stand on. It did not even seek approval to classify it as an investigative new drug, as it should have.

Also, the Food and Drug Administration's role is to approve all vaccines used in the United States, which includes the licensing of production sites.

Military vaccines are no exception.

We would like to think the use of human beings for experimental purposes is a thing of the past. Apparently, the U.S. government is continuing the tradition. Sooner than later, the truth will be known.