63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read - Jesse Ventura [18]
• E. DOD did not know whether pyridostigmine bromide would be safe for use by U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf War
• F. When U.S. troops were sent to the Persian Gulf in 1994, DOD still did not have proof that pyridostigmine bromide was safe for use as an antidote enhancer
• G. Pyridostigmine may be more dangerous in combination with pesticides and other exposures
• H. The safety of the botulism vaccine was not established prior to the Persian Gulf War
• I. Records of anthrax vaccinations are not suitable to evaluate safety
• J. Army regulations exempt informed consent for volunteers in some types of military research
• K. DOD and DVA have repeatedly failed to provide information and medical followup to those who participate in military research or are ordered to take investigational drugs
• L. The Federal Government has failed to support scientific studies that provide information about the reproductive problems experienced by veterans who were intentionally exposed to potentially dangerous substances
• M. The Federal Government has failed to support scientific studies that provide timely information for compensation decisions regarding military personnel who were harmed by various exposures
• N. Participation in military research is rarely included in military medical records, making it impossible to support a veteran’s claim for service-connected disabilities from military research
• O. DOD has demonstrated a pattern of misrepresenting the danger of various military exposures that continues today
IV. Recommendations
• A. Congress should deny the DOD request for a blanket waiver to use investigational drugs in case of war or threat of war
• B. FDA should reject any applications from DOD that do not include data on women, and long-term followup data
• C. Congress should authorize a centralized database for all federally funded experiments that utilize human subjects
• D. Congress should mandate all Federal agencies to declassify most documents on research involving human subjects
• E. Congress should reestablish a National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects
• F. VA and DOD should implement regular site visits to review Institutional Review Boards
• G. The Feres Doctrine should not be applied for military personnel who are harmed by inappropriate human experimentation when informed consent has not been given
Appendix -- Survey of 150 Persian Gulf War Veterans
IS MILITARY RESEARCH HAZARDOUS TO VETERANS’ HEALTH? LESSONS SPANNING HALF A CENTURY
I. INTRODUCTION
During the last 50 years, hundreds of thousands of military personnel have been involved in human experimentation and other intentional exposures conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD), often without a servicemember’s knowledge or consent. In some cases, soldiers who consented to serve as human subjects found themselves participating in experiments quite different from those described at the time they volunteered. For example, thousands of World War II veterans who originally volunteered to “test summer clothing” in exchange for extra leave time, found themselves in gas chambers testing the effects of mustard gas and lewisite. (Note 1) Additionally, soldiers were sometimes ordered by commanding officers to “volunteer” to participate in research or face dire consequences. For example, several Persian Gulf War veterans interviewed by Committee staff reported that they were ordered to take experimental vaccines during Operation Desert Shield or face prison. (Note 2)
The goals of many of the military experiments and exposures were very appropriate. For example, some experiments were intended to provide important information about how to protect U.S. troops from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons or other dangerous substances during wartime. In the Persian Gulf War, U.S. troops were intentionally exposed to an investigational vaccine that was intended to protect them against biological warfare, and they were given pyridostigmine bromide pills in an experimental protocol intended to protect them against