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bunker complex at the Kamishiyah depot between March 4-7, 1991. Continued efforts by NGWRC resulted in additional Pentagon admissions -- by July 1997 the Pentagon had disclosed that there were as many as 100,000 troops exposed to poison gases.
Over the last two and one half years, the NGWRC research campaign has resulted in the Pentagon revamping their entire Gulf War Illnesses investigation, which included hiring as many as 150 new people to investigate the revelations and documents brought to light by NGWRC research. Official government documents obtained by NGWRC, in a coordinated effort with investigations by our member groups, has revealed strong evidence of:
ß limited offensive use of chemical warfare agents by Iraq;
ß chemical warfare agent land mine use by Iraq;
ß deployment of chemical warfare agents to the Kuwait theater of operations by Iraq;
ß exposure of coalition troops and civilians to chemical warfare agents due to coalition bombings of Iraqi bunkers and storage and manufacturing plants during the air war, and
ß exposure of troops to chemical warfare agents as a result of post - ground war demolitions.
In spite of the overwhelming evidence of widespread poison gas exposures, the Pentagon continues to downplay the extent and the seriousness of these exposures. Documented evidence suggests, however, that the Pentagon had knowledge prior to the war of the potential health problems caused by exposure to low-level chemical warfare agents.
In 1996, the NGWRC called for the appointment of a special prosecutor from the Department of Justice to investigate the misplacement, concealment, or destruction of government documents related to chemical and biological agent incidents and exposures. As a result of our request, Secretary of Defense William Cohen ordered the DoD Inspector General to investigate any DoD wrongdoings regarding these documents. This investigation is currently underway.
The documents referred to above were obtained by many members of the NGWRC, including Jim Tuite, Paul Sullivan, Jim Brown, Paul Lyons, the Gulf War Veterans of Georgia, the Gulf War Veterans of North Carolina and other NGWRC members. They have written and filed numerous FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests in the last few years and have received voluminous piles of documents from various units present in the Gulf. For more information on specific information contained in these log, please contact the national offices of the National Gulf War Resource Center, Inc.
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Drugs And Vaccines
Multiple vaccinations were given simultaneously to troops preparing to deploy to the Persian Gulf. Most of these vaccines are well known, however the health consequences of administering so many vaccines together at once is unknown and scientifically controversial.
There has been some speculation that some of the vaccines given military and civilian personnel may have been contaminated or that the multiple vaccines given all at once may have caused immune system impairment. Research is continuing on this subject -- see the Private Medical Research subsection of the Symptoms and Treatments section of this Guide for more information on the possible health effects of immunizations.
Experimental Drugs & Vaccines
In December 1990 the Food and Drug Administration agreed to issue a waiver to the Department of Defense allowing the military to issue experimental drugs and vaccines to U.S. personnel in the Gulf without first obtaining informed consent for use of those drugs. This waiver is still in effect for U.S. troops in combat situations, and has been recently challenged by NGWRC and other consumer and advocacy groups. Though U.S. law and the Nuremburg Code require informed consent from the patient, the military did not explain possible side effects or obtain informed consent. The three main drugs and vaccines are listed below.
Pyridostigmine Bromide
This was the most widely used drug. It was used as a "nerve agent pre-treatment" drug and came as a small white pill in blister packets. Approved for use in cases of a neurological disorder known as myasthenia gravis, the drug has never been tested or approved for use on normal populations. In the few limited tests conducted prior to the war by the DoD, women, smokers, and anyone who might be at all sensitive to the drug were screened out. Despite this screening, adverse effects were widely noted.
Pre-treatment with PB is only effective in relation to exposure to soman; it actually increases adverse effects to exposures to sarin.
Anthrax Vaccine
This vaccine has been tested and approved for limited use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was administered to approximately 150,000 troops in the Gulf region. It is not known if it is safe for pregnant woman or their offspring.
Botulinum Toxoid Vaccine
This vaccine is not approved by the FDA and must be administered by an IND (Investigational New Drug) waiver by the FDA. Approximately eight thousand service members were given this vaccine, or approximately 1% of the troops in the Gulf region. Most were given one or two shots, not enough to
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