63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read - Jesse Ventura [17]
It’s been that way for every war in my lifetime. When we’re done using the soldier, we give him lip service but everything else is hastily forgotten—the injuries, the diseases, all of that we want to bury and pretend that it doesn’t exist. If you end up doing something for veterans, it costs money—and then we’d have to realize that there’s more to war than just dying. There’s a huge amount of collateral damage—of living death—that takes place after a war. Benefits, hospitalization, true care: all the things that should happen after a veteran is done serving, forget it! So all the praise for their service is, to me, utterly phony.
Take a look at the excerpt from a staff report prepared for the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on December 8, 1994. I hope this turns your stomach, as it did mine. (You can access the full Senate 103-97 report at www.gulfwarvets.com/senate.htm.)
103d Congress, 2d Session - COMMITTEE PRINT - S. Prt. 103-97
IS MILITARY RESEARCH HAZARDOUS TO VETERANS’
HEALTH? LESSONS SPANNING HALF A CENTURY
A STAFF REPORT PREPARED FOR THE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’
AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
DECEMBER 8, 1994
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman
DENNIS DeCONCINI, Arizona
FRANK H. MURKOWSKI, Alaska
GEORGE J. MITCHELL, Maine
STROM THURMOND, South Carolina
BOB GRAHAM, Florida
ALAN K. SIMPSON, Wyoming
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania
THOMAS A. DASCHLE, South Dakota
JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont
BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado
Jim Gottlieb, Chief Counsel/Staff Director
John H. Moseman, Minority Staff Director/Chief Counsel
Diana M. Zuckerman, Professional Staff Member
Patricia Olson, Congressional Science Fellow
FOREWORD
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs,
Washington, DC, December 8, 1994
During the last few years, the public has become aware of several examples where U.S. Government researchers intentionally exposed Americans to potentially dangerous substances without their knowledge or consent. The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, which I have been privileged to chair from 1993-94, has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the extent to which veterans participated in such research while they were serving in the U.S. military. This resulted in two hearings, on May 6, 1994, and August 5, 1994.
This report, written by the majority staff of the Committee, is the result of that comprehensive investigation, and is intended to provide information for future deliberations by the Congress. The findings and conclusions contained in this report are those of the majority staff and do not necessarily reflect the views of the members of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
This report would not have been possible without the dedication and expertise of Dr. Patricia Olson, who, as a Congressional Science Fellow, worked tirelessly on this investigation and report, and the keen intelligence, energy, and commitment of Dr. Diana Zuckerman, who directed this effort.
John D. Rockefeller IV, Chairman
CONTENTS
I. Introduction
II. Background
• A. Codes, declarations, and laws governing human experimentation
• B. Mustard gas and lewisite
• C. Seventh-Day Adventists
• D. Dugway Proving Ground
• E. Radiation exposure
• F. Hallucinogens
• G. Investigational drugs
III. Findings and conclusions
• A. For at least 50 years, DOD has intentionally exposed military personnel to potentially dangerous substances, often in secret
• B. DOD has repeatedly failed to comply with required ethical standards when using human subjects in military research during war or threat of war
• http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/dodC. DOD incorrectly claims that since their goal was treatment, the use of investigational drugs in the Persian Gulf War was not research
• D. DOD used investigational drugs in the Persian Gulf War in ways that were