Gulf War Syndrome: Killing Our Own - Part 2
April 22, 2010 Unproven Vaccines, Unmonitored Medicine (continued)
There is debate raging in the United States between the conservatives and the liberals as to how we should extract ourselves from Iraq. While that debate is occurring and American casualties continue to mount, virtually no one is talking about the other casualties. The American casualties are the people suffering from what is called Gulf War Syndrome. What is not recorded is how many individuals, mainly women and children noncombatants who have died as a result of our being in Iraq. From 1991 to the present day, it is conservatively estimated that more than 700,000 women and children have died. Others place that estimate at over one million. Regardless of whether it is 700,000 or a million, it is an unacceptably large number. What are the consequences of our being there as far as the environmental impact, the use of depleted uranium? Have our soldiers been used as human guinea pigs? Has the military, the Defense Department, the CIA, and others used them as human guinea pigs to test different vaccines? We're going to find out the answers to these questions in this original in-depth investigative report.
Yesterday I began in Part One by examining what happened to many of the individuals who served in the Gulf, individuals who came home sick or were sick before they even went over to the Gulf after having taken vaccines. The government denied that the soldiers were sick from anything that happened in the Gulf. They said it was all in their heads and that they were psychiatric cases suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. Many of these individuals are broke. There is no insurance to pay for the very unusual diseases they're manifesting, and there is no compensation for the years they have suffered in silence. Small groups of veterans are getting together throughout the country and talking about why they all seem to have the same symptoms. There have been a handful, and only a handful of legislators in Congress who've had hearings; these are Riegel and Rockefeller from West Virginia and Shays from Connecticut and Kennedy from Massachusetts. Now when you review the testimonies from the hearings, you'll see that under oath some very strong statements have been made. But what has come from all this testimony? Nothing. Today if you speak with the hundreds of Gulf War vets that I've spoken with, they'll tell you that nothing has changed. Their story is not being covered. Nor is the story of the Iraqis who have suffered from depleted uranium and from biological weapons. We intend to cover both stories.
Captian Joyce Riley who served in Gulf War one stated the following, "the basic fact is that biological agents were used on our troops. Chemical agents were used on our troops. Germ warfare was used on our troops, using biologicals that were made In the United States of America." [i]
The widespread use of experimental vaccines during Desert Storm has often been cited as a possible cause of Gulf War Syndrome. Dr. Garth Nicolson elaborates, "I'm not a big fan of experimental vaccines. There have been too many mistakes. Usually you find these things out years later. Often agents that we think innocuous turn out to be harmful." He explained that during the Gulf War, the established procedures of vaccination were ignored. Normally, only one inoculation should be given at a time, but the military insisted on giving multiple shots at once, which, according to Nicolson, is the worst thing you can do because it suppresses the immune system. [ii]
The troops immunized for the Gulf have been called guinea pigs, and for good reason. They received experimental vaccines, e.g., those for anthrax and botulinum that were not approved for use by the FDA and have since proven to cause potentially dangerous side effects. Soldiers who were given these experimental vaccines, without informed consent, have reported suffering from a variety of neurological problems and aberrant bleeding from all parts of their bodies. Because of these vaccines' experimental nature, many questions have arisen as to why our government dispensed them. Not the least of these questions is 'what about the Nuremberg Code?' Developed by the Allies after World War II in response to inhumane Nazi experimentation, the Nuremberg code says that voluntary and informed consent is absolutely essential from all human subjects who participate in research, whether during peace or during war. [iii]
Nerve gas countering pills were a big problem for many Desert Storm participants. Documents released by the Pentagon in 1995 revealed that high-ranking military officials had pressured the Food and Drug Administration into authorizing experimentation with pyridostigmine bromide (PB) tablets for protection against Iraqi chemical or biological attacks. PB tablets are usually only used for the treatment of the chronic muscle weakness disorder Myasthenia Gravis, but the military and the FDA waived the traditional informed consent procedures during the early stages of the conflict. Many soldiers did inquire about the classified nature of the pills, but, nevertheless, they were forced to consume them in excessive quantities by their commanding officers. Others, fearing for their safety, ignored the orders of their superiors after witnessing the pills' highly unpleasant gastric effects upon their fellow servicemen.
Research is currently being done to test for the presence of mycoplasma in the vaccines Persian Gulf War vets receive.[iv] One study examined the hypothesis that "mycoplasma contamination of the licensed anthrax vaccine administered to military personnel …[is a] possible cause of Persian Gulf Illness." [v] However, in this particular study, tests done by two methods did not reveal contamination by the M. fermentans mycoplasma (by gel electrophoresis and plate culture methods) [vi], but, as mentioned in the study with ALS patients, the infection with M. fermentans may be a result of an immune dysfuntion that plays a role in the progression of Gulf War Illness, or it may be a secondary infection that is opportunistic with regards to the primary illness of the patient. It may also be the result of the infection by some other vaccine or the secondary reaction to some other cofactor.
Studies are starting to examine the presence of mycoplasma strains in animals which have received vaccinations: One study entitled: Detection of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in Pasteurella-vaccinated sheep flocks with respiratory disease in England elucidates its findings in the title. In another study, the laboratory test PCR detected mycoplasma in live avian vaccines. [vii]
In addition, PCR methods used to detect mycoplasmal strains in vaccines for humans, detected contaminants in batches of standard childhood vaccines, and the contamination ranged from 0-56% of the vaccines tested. [viii]
Now put this in perspective. If you, as a noncombatant lay person, receive a vaccine, it is implied that it's safe and effective. At no point are you told by the nurse or the physician that this vaccine could be contaminated or and that those contaminants have never been tested to see what they'll do in your body. This study showed that mycoplasma was present in up to 56% of the standard children's vaccines that it tested.
In 1996, a Japanese laboratory evaluated the tests for the sterility of standard childhood vaccines. They found the following: "current sterility tests for human viral vaccines were evaluated. A total of 43 lots of bulk suspension of live viral vaccines (measles, mumps, rubella and oral poliomyelitis) produced by six manufacturers in Japan were evaluated for bacteriostatic and mycoplasmastatic activities. Some of them showed fairly high bacteriostatic and mycoplasmastatic activities, due to antibiotics added during vaccine production. It was concluded that the current sterility test for mycoplasmas is not reliable to detect viable mycoplasmas in live viral vaccines." [ix]
No one was told this. Doctors weren't told. When we were given vaccines we were not told we could also be getting mycoplasmas.
These studies suggest that more careful examination for the presence of mycoplasma in vaccines needs to be undertaken.
Where Was the FDA?
In 1996, Donald S. McAlvaney reported that soldiers did not have a constitutional right to refuse medical treatment that was deemed necessary to send them to active duty, but in addition, an older statute by the FDA in 1990 said the soldiers did not have a right to refuse experimental treatment either. [x]
Isn't the FDA responsible for making sure that Americans aren't given unsafe drugs? Shouldn't they at least warn people of possible dangers? They claim they tried. They blame the Pentagon for pyridostigmine bromide. In May '97, it was reported that a top FDA official told Congress that the Pentagon did not keep a promise to fully inform soldiers before giving them the experimental nerve gas antidotes during the war. [xi] The promise to warn soldiers about the drugs had been a condition of the FDA's agreeing, in 1991, to waive standard consent requirements. A Pentagon spokesperson said that information sheets had been sent to the Gulf, but had been sent late. Some members of Congress were outraged upon hearing this. For instance, Christopher Shays (R., Connecticut), chairman of the Congressional Investigating Committee, said that the FDA's failure to compel the military to keep its word "blows my mind."
Evidence has indicated that the procedure for administering these very toxic pills placed the recipients at great risk. Records of who received the pills were not kept, and a standard dosage was distributed, regardless of sex, age, weight, or medical history. What's more, the toxicity of this experimental drug was actually heightened by issuing it along with common household insecticides, a potentially lethal combination.
Nurse Carol Picou, who served in the Gulf, elaborates on the problems with pyridostigmine bromide: [xii] "This has been used since 1955 on patients with Myasthenia Gravis. This drug has never been tested on healthy human beings. Yet I have a report where they show they did do testing on 10 soldiers--men. Two couldn't even finish the program. Two got severely sick. Even when you give it to Myasthenia Gravis patients you monitor for levels of toxicity. You give it to them according to their height, weight, bone structures. Yet they gave us pyridostigmine — everybody the same pack--30 mg pills. Take them three times a day. And when people had problems with them they didn't take us off. Right away, I looked it up. In 1955, if you have problems with this drug, they should take you off of it, and the antidote is atropine. Well, we received atropine during the war. We didn't know why we had to carry atropine and Valium. Well, it's because of the fact of the chemical warfare threat, and the fact that if something would happen to us from the pyridostigmine, that would be our antidote."
Carol Picou has been experiencing a variety of serious health problems, not the least of which is head-to-toe neurological damage, since her Gulf service. [xiii]
James Moss, a former researcher for the Department of Agriculture, has criticized the military's experimentation with PB tablets and has correlated their use with the manifestation of birth defects. At a Congressional Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, committee chairman Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D., West Virginia) censured the Pentagon for its disregard of human rights and its utter lack of responsibility. Rockefeller believes that the Pentagon had no proof that the drugs or vaccines were safe or effective, yet it proceeded to dispense them without first evaluating female recipients or apprising troops of possible side effects.
At that same hearing, Gulf veteran Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Neil Tetzlaff explained to the committee how he and fellow servicemen experienced severe vomiting and other acute conditions after taking PB tablets during the journey to Saudi Arabia. According to Tetzlaff, officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs were reluctant to cooperate with the afflicted soldiers upon their arrival in the Gulf region because they were unable to corroborate that the medication was the cause of their problems. In defense of the Pentagon, Assistant Secretary of Defense Dr. Edward Martin asserted that the military was only trying to fulfill its obligations to its troops by offering protection from an enemy who had previously engaged in chemical and biological warfare. Regardless of these good intentions, babies with serious abnormalities continue to be born to demoralized veterans. As Senator Tom Daschle (D., South Dakota) said at the hearing, "How many more lessons do we have to learn?" He was referring to the military's past experience with Agent Orange during the 1970s that I elucidated in Part One of this paper. It caused horrific effects within the bodies of those people who served in Vietnam. For over 20 years, the Defense Department, the Pentagon, and the Department of Veterans' Affairs refused to acknowledge that all the different manifestations of illnesses were due to Agent Orange.
Concerning the safety of the drugs given to Gulf soldiers, Ph.D.'s Diana Zuckerman and Patricia Olson conducted an investigation for Senator Rockefeller in conjunction with the May 1994 hearing, and what they discovered was disturbing. They explained in their report to the senator that "when the Department of Defense began preparations for Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990, officials were extremely concerned about the need to protect U.S. troops against chemical and biological weapons that were believed to have been developed by Iraq. Under current law, all vaccines and medical products must be proven safe and effective by F.D.A. in order to be sold and distributed in the United States. However, D.O.D. officials wanted to use a botulinum toxoid which is a vaccine against botulism, that was not approved by the F.D.A. They also wanted to use pyridostigmine bromide, which is a medication, in order to protect U.S. troops against certain chemical weapons, such as soman. Although approved by the F.D.A. for treating patients with a neurological disorder called Myasthenia Gravis, pyridostigmine is not proven safe or effective for repeated use by healthy persons under any circumstances.
The "D.O.D. told F.D.A. that these investigational products had well-established uses and were safe," the report continued. "However, these claims are not supported by the research that the D.O.D. originally provided to the F.D.A." [xiv]
"In addition," the doctors claim, "D.O.D. documents indicated that the treatment regimen for U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf War may have included an inadequate dose of atropine. Therefore, even if Persian Gulf soldiers had been exposed to soman, it is questionable if the pyridostigmine pretreatment would have provided any protection, since the dose of atropine was apparently inadequate. [xv]
"Because of the D.O.D. researchers' concerns about serious adverse reactions, virtually all of the studies screened the male subjects to determine whether they were hypersensitive to pyridostigmine before allowing them to participate in the experiment. In addition, individuals with many medical conditions, those on medications, and those who smoked were excluded from the studies. Study participants were told not to drink any alcoholic beverages. Despite these precautions, serious adverse reactions were reported for several of the studies, including respiratory arrest, abnormal liver tests, unusual electrocardiograms, gastrointestinal disturbances, memory loss, and anemia.
"None of the Persian Gulf War troops were adequately warned about the risks associated with the drug," the doctors continued, "and few if any were given a choice of whether or not to take it." [xvi]
What was just said came from two scientists who work for Rockefeller and show that the data was cherry picked. There were over 700,000 troops who were going to be taking this drug. They didn't allow anyone who smoked or anyone who was taking alcohol or anyone who was on other medications to be in the study. How many people who were deployed smoked or drank? Well if you smoked and drank, which most did, and you were then given this tablet, you could have very serious conditions. I've interviewed at least 100 individuals who said they were sick as they could be prior to going over there after taking these tablets. Yet the Department of Defense denied everything.
Adjuvant Antibodies Found
Recently, new information has been brought to light about squalene, an adjuvant (or compound that boosts the effectiveness of a vaccine) that is not supposed to be used in humans except in research on illnesses such as HIV and herpes. Squalene is produced by the liver, and thought to be involved in immune response of the body. However, unusually high antibody levels for squalene have been showing up in the blood of Persian Gulf War vets. This was the gist of an investigation by Insight magazine, [xvii] which reported that VA spokespeople have no explanation for these findings. The mystery is compounded by the disappearance of up to 70,000 service-related immunization records.
Those are the records of the soldiers whose blood now shows they have an antibody, which shows they were given the vaccine containing squalene. Once again, if you or I were to be given an experimental adjuvant without our knowledge and then the records were destroyed so there were no paper trail, that would be a criminal offense. Yet nothing has happened to any of the people involved in dispersing these PB tablets and the hiding the documentation. The government certainly has not made these records available. They are gone.
In 1997, one of the Military's public relations agencies stated that squalene may or may not have been used in soldiers' vaccines. [xviii] What does 'may or may not' mean? Squalene either was used or it wasn't used.
One of the scientists hired by Insight to investigate the presence of squalene in veterans' blood after the first Gulf War elaborates on the study's findings: "We found soldiers who are not sick that do not have the antibodies. We found soldiers who never left the U.S. but who got shots who are sick, and they have squalene in their systems. We found people who served overseas in various parts of the desert that are sick who have squalene. And we found people who served in the desert but were civilians who never got these shots who are not sick and do not have squalene." In order to rule out the possibility that squalene was produced by the body in response to illness, soldiers who had not been vaccinated, but who had chronic fatigue syndrome, were tested for the presence of squalene. These soldiers had less than half of the percentage of squalene than the soldiers who were sick with Gulf War Syndrome. [xix]
According to one government official familiar with the blood test results, increased levels of sickness in veterans were indeed correlated with increased levels of antibodies for squalene. Another official explained, "I'm not telling you that squalene is making these people sick, but I am telling you that the sick ones have it in them. It's probably whatever was used [mixed] with the squalene that's doing it, or in combination with the squalene. You find that, and you may be on to something."
Research immunologist Pam Asa, with whom I spoke at length, worked with about 150 individuals with Gulf War Syndrome. Asa is one of the investigators looking into squalene, and she stressed that this is not a substance approved for use in humans, as it hasn't been through rigorous safety testing. She reported that the autoimmune manifestations of squalene vary from person to person, depending on the patient's genetic make-up. "In other words, patient A will have a certain spectrum of symptoms, and patient B will have another. But it's still the same disease process, basically. It does also involve neurological disease." [xx]
A 2005 report states that in a trend of purifying vaccines, manufacturers are starting to use squalene as an adjuvant, because manufactured rather than 'natural vaccines' are seen as purer products. [xxi]
Mark Zeller is one of the service people affected by this issue: "I sent my blood and got a notice back that I'm positive for this stuff called squalene, which is an adjuvant, which goes into a vaccine. This adjuvant is still not for human use. I'm here to tell you, I've got squalene in my body. And I said, 'It's not supposed to be in humans. To this date, it's still not used in humans except for research. I never sought to be a guinea pig out in the desert. I signed on to protect my country. At least that's what I thought." [xxii]
A year 2000 report shows that independent tests done by the government on vaccines used in the Gulf were inconclusive. Although the FDA detected trace amounts of squalene in vaccine batches this fall, there has been some double speak regarding the Department of Defense's acknowledgement that the government actually used squalene in its vaccine preparations. Although it acknowledges that there may have been trace amounts of squalene found in the vaccines, it denies that it used squalene to produce the vaccines. [xxiii]
Quite simply you couldn't have any amount at all in the vaccines unless someone put it there. So whether it's a little amount or a large amount, if there is any amount whatsoever, someone put it there. Who put it there and on whose orders? What were they trying to test? They refused to answer these questions.
In an article in the Idaho Observer, researchers such as Boyd Haley confirm the neurotoxicity caused by the use of metallic adjuvants such as aluminum and mercury. Oil adjuvants, by Dr. West in the 1930's and Dr. Freund in the 1950's were cited to cause deep immune reaction in the body, and harm when injected in experimental test animals. There are two reasons cited for the dangers caused by the use of squalene in vaccines. First, squalene can maim the immune system to such a degree that it can no longer recognize what is foreign tissue, and what is not, and second, the body may cross react with the squalene in adjuvants because squalene is also produced by the liver and other organs throughout the body. [xxiv] In contrast to the Department of Defense, some researchers liken the use of squalene in vaccines to chemical warfare on the human body. Since squalene is present in every cell in our bodies, auto immune reaction can be triggered indefinitely by administering a vaccine containing squalene. Researcher Vera Schreibner states that the following illnesses have been caused by the use of squalene: "arthritis, fibromyalgia, lymphadenopathy, rashes, photosensitive rashes, malar rashes, chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, abnormal body hair loss, non-healing skin lesions, aphthous ulcers, dizziness, weakness, memory loss, seizures, mood changes, neuropsychiatric problems, anti-thyroid effects, anemia, elevated ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, Raynaud's phenomenon, Sjorgren's syndrome, chronic diarrhoea, night sweats and low-grade fevers." [xxv]
These are illnesses found in most of the people suffering from Gulf War Syndrome. They are virtually found in all the people suffering from Gulf War Syndrome who tested positive to squalene.
Iraq's Deadly Arsenal
Another possible cause of Gulf War syndrome was the presence of biological and chemical additives present in the Scud B and Frog missiles. On May 1, 1996, senior physician at Walter Reed Army Hospital Major General Ronald Blanck admitted to the President's Panel on Gulf War Illnesses that chemical and biological weapons had been used during Operation Desert Storm, and that low-level exposures to these agents probably occurred. Studies confirmed that hundreds of Iraqi missiles had been loaded with biological warfare agents, but until Major General Blanck's report five years after the war, the evidence had been completely disavowed by official sources.
Disclosures by high-ranking Iraqi officials have in fac, confirmed that Iraq possessed an extensive chemical and biological arsenal during the Gulf War. After the August 1995 defection of Lieutenant General Hussein Kamel Majid, Saddam Hussein's top biological weapons adviser, the Iraqi government, in an attempt to lessen the impact of Majid's revelations, unveiled an abundance of classified information to United Nations investigators documenting the development of biological and chemical warfare arsenals. The Iraqis revealed that prior to the Gulf War, their nation engaged in a top-secret program to develop biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons that could be used against any of their foes, including the U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Prior to the disclosures, Iraq had claimed that it had only ten people employed by its biological programs, but it has since admitted that 150 scientists and an extensive support staff were involved in the mass-development of biological warfare agents in the 1980s. According to U.N. officials, Iraq posessed at least 50 bombs loaded with anthrax, 100 bombs containing botulinum, and 25 missile warheads carrying other germ agents.
The Iraqi government's goal was to create a diversified arsenal that went way beyond conventional weapons. For instance, one viral agent manufactured by the Iraqis was capable of generating hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, which commonly results in temporary blindness or bleeding eyes, while another agent developed by the Iraqis could be used to induce chronic diarrhea, a condition quite effective in immobilizing troops. Secret Iraqi biological warfare programs were also responsible for the production of at least 78 gallons of gangrene-inducing chemicals that were capable of penetrating the body and infecting wounds. Other agents included 'yellow rain,' a lethal fungi responsible for bleeding lungs, and ricin, a deadly toxin derived from castor oil plants.
Was Iraq ready to use its poisons on the battlefield in Gulf War I? Jonathan Tucker, in an article in The Nonproliferation Review [xxvi] documents that they in fact did use them, in 76 incidents. Tucker mentions that, during the conflict, London's Sunday Times reported that intercepted Iraqi military communications showed that Saddam Hussein had authorized front-line commanders to use chemical weapons as soon as coalition forces began their ground offensive. [xxvii] Newsweek, as well, reported this fact. [xxviii]
We do have military documentation to support assertions of biological and chemical weapons in the Gulf. For instance, battlefield reports of the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade confirmed the release of anthrax on Feb. 24, 1991, at King Khalid Military City, while documentation from the following day reveals the presence of Lewicite, a nerve gas that could have been released either by an Iraqi assault or as a result of secondary explosions.
Now keep in mind why this is important. I interviewed individuals in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 who said that there were night time operations where suddenly a scud missile would go off. The sky would light up. Within seconds biological alarms would be ringing all over the camp. The soldiers' skin would start to burn. There would be a yellow misty powder on their arms, their faces, and all exposed areas. It would be "as if you were to stick your head in boiling water," as one soldier said. The soldiers would run to rinse this powder off of them. Then in the morning men in white suits would come and start cleaning up all the debris, and let the soldiers know they were not to talk about this. There were over 12,000 biological alarms that went off during the Gulf War. In the First Gulf War, General Schwarzkopf, who was the commander of all operations, and General Colin Powell, who was the Joint Chief of Staff, stated that there were no biological or chemical weapons used. That was not correct. Now why did the soldiers and their commanders know this? Tens of thousands of soldiers experienced chemical exposure. The high command covered it up. Should these people not be held accountable? Should personal lawsuits be allowed? You cannot sue the United States government. I believe, from my own investigation, there is a deeper reason, (even deeper than the veterans' exposures and illness) why we had to deny that biologicals were used. It could have been shown at the time that the US was a supplier of weapons of mass destruction.
The U.S. as Supplier
A sad irony of Gulf War I involves the origin of Iraq's biological and chemical weapons. At least some of them came from the United States. By sharing weapons and intelligence throughout Iraq's long war with Iran in the 1980s, the U.S. helped create the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in history. That these were later used to our detriment is an example of the phenomenon known as blow-back, which is what happens when we don't look at the long-term consequences of our foreign policy actions.
According to the Riegle report, during the 1980s, the U.S. government supplied the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission with at least 28 biological weapons to use in its bitter war with neighboring Iran. In 1987, then Vice President Bush met with Iraqi officials to ensure that technological equipment used to produce chemical and biological warfare agents would continue to be exported to the Iraqis. When he assumed the presidency, Bush maintained this policy, despite Congressional dissension. Corporations involved in transactions with the Iraqi government, including Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, Rockwell, and Tektronix, were licensed to export more than $1.5 million worth of highly sophisticated equipment in the five years preceding the Gulf War, and these companies frequently delivered their products directly to Iraqi chemical and nuclear plants. [xxix]
On June 6, 1994, 26 Gulf veterans filed a $1 billion class action lawsuit in Angleton, Texas, naming 11 firms as defendants involved in biological and chemical warfare production. The attorney for the plaintiffs cited the defendants' knowledgeable participation in the manufacture of unreasonably dangerous biological compounds as the basis for the suit. In addition, the defendants have also been accused of allowing their business practices to enable a country like Iraq to obtain and use biological and chemical weapons. [xxx]
In his report to Congress, Senator Riegle was quite explicit, being able to name the biological weapons involved, the batch numbers sent to Iraq, and their dates. For instance, among the agents delivered to various agencies of the Iraqi government were Clostridium perfringens, a gaseous gangrene causing agent, Brucella melitenis, Clostridium botulinum, Salmonella, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus epidermis.
The U.S. was a participant in the Geneva Biological Weapons Convention of 1972, and we, as well as Iraq, signed the resultant agreement that prohibited both experimentation with and the sale of biologicals or other weapons of mass destruction. Clearly, Iraq broke it, but the world must now know that the United States also broke the Geneva Biological Weapons Convention. We allowed this to be hidden. Now, obviously, our government has a considerable interest in keeping the U.S. breach of this agreement covered up. Plus there's the inconvenient fact of our history of cooperation with Saddam Hussein, a tyrant who was denounced by the global community and who has been likened to Adolf Hitler.. Embarrassment about revealing our past dealings with our current enemy has hampered our government's readiness to deal fairly with veterans.
The Corporate Connection
The January 1996 issue of Media Bypass magazine [xxxi] carries a hard-hitting article by Sarah McClendon that exposes U.S. corporations' production and sale of chemical and biological weapons to Iraq. McClendon writes that, "proof is building upwards, stronger than ever, that big U.S. corporations made the weapons that Iraq's Saddam Hussein used to kill American soldiers in the Persian Gulf war. These corporations also provided the chemical and biological weapons that the Iraqis used to make thousands of surviving soldiers chronically ill."
The article goes on to condemn both the Bush and Clinton administrations' Justice Departments for agreeing to not prosecute the big name American corporations for trading with the enemy, "the building up of Iraq's weapons, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, was conducted for years before the Persian Gulf War and after it started…but at this [particular] moment, the Clinton Justice Department turned this question over to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control where, at first, officials were pondering whether this should be treated as a criminal or civil offense."
Even after being warned, the Clinton administration assigned the same FBI men, the same prosecutors who had ruled that the corporations during the Bush administration should not be prosecuted, to study the case to see if charges should be filed against the corporations and their officers. In 1995 the Justice Department said it did not prosecute the corporations because they did not have the proof to win the case.
The matter of the $5 billion loan to Iraq from the BNL Italian bank of Rome is not to be overlooked; it was guaranteed by U.S. taxpayers through the Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation. Iraq turned this loan into letters of credit with which it bought $5 billion in weapons (including biologicals and Scuds from the U.S.), and when Iraq later defaulted on the loan, the U.S. taxpayer essentially paid the bill for weapons that were later shot back at U.S. soldiers.
When Sarah McClendon asked George Bush Sr. to give the public a list of the corporations in the Pittsburgh area which were making weapons for Saddam Hussein, he refused. Perhaps it was no coincidence that these corporations were tied to the Brown Brothers' Harriman Bank, which had been managed by President Bush's father, the late Senator Prescott Bush.
McClendon asked, "how was this cover-up of the manufacture of weapons for Iraq arranged in the U.S.? Bush [Sr.] arranged for 70 percent of the policy-makers in the Justice Department to remain in their jobs when the transition from Bush to Clinton took place. They took a lower pay scale, but stayed in control.
Unheeded Alarms
Many Gulf War veterans have testified that chemical warfare detector alarms at bases across the region were frequently triggered, yet troops were ordered to ignore the alarms. According to General Colin Powell, who had been chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the war, American commanders had believed the frequent alarms to be false, because nobody seemed to be getting sick immediately. It was believed by those involved that you had to become obviously ill at the time of exposure to chemical or biological agents for exposure to mean anything. [xxxii]
One veteran who did get immediately ill, Petty Officer Sterling Symms of the Naval Reserve Construction Battalion, was stationed in Saudi Arabia when he was awakened one morning he by an extremely loud explosion overhead. Right after the detonation, chemical alarms were sounded, and a strong ammonia-like aroma permeated the air. Before he could rush to get his protective gear on, Symms's face and eyes began to burn; several months later, he began to suffer from typical Gulf vet symptoms, including chronic fatigue, open sores, and rashes. Symms and several of his comrades, who had contracted similar symptoms, described to Congress how they were issued orders by their commanding officers to avoid any further discussion of the incident.
Another veteran who testified before the Riegle Committee, Army Sergeant Randall L. Vallee, explained how orders to ignore chemical-detector alarms were rationalized by a variety of absurd scenarios, such as the idea that supersonic aircraft or sand-infested equipment had triggered the alarms. Vallee, like Symms, testified that the alarms frequently sounded throughout the conflict, especially after Iraqi Scud attacks. In Senator Riegle's report, it was confirmed that 14,000 chemical alarm monitoring units were installed by the military throughout the region to provide an early warning of imminent gas attacks, but many of them were disarmed after they began to sound too frequently. Members of the Riegle Committee chastised the Department of Defense for its apathetic disregard for the safety of our service people, concluding that the Department's insistence that all of the alarms had been false was a little hard to believe.
Interestingly, after his testimony before Congress, Sergeant Vallee received a phone call from Lieutenant Colonel Vicki Merriman, an aide to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for chemical and biological matters, who, after initially seeming sympathetic, interrogated the veteran and attempted to alter his recollections. [xxxiii]
Depleted Uranium
There is another very disturbing legacy that has been and is continuing to be a part of Iraq, and will be forever: depleted uranium. This is one of the worse cases of official cover-up I have ever uncovered in my career.
Our use of depleted uranium is an aspect of our presence in the Gulf that hasn't gotten wide publicity, but should. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process. [xxxiv] Its name implies that this is a harmless material, but, in actuality, it is still a highly poisonous, radioactive, heavy metal. The term "depleted" comes from the fact that natural uranium is made from a fissionable isotope, U-235, while depleted uranium is made from a relatively stable isotope, U-238. After U-235 is extracted from U-238 for use in nuclear weapons and breeder reactors, only U-238 remains. While it is now depleted because it no longer contains U-235, due to its density the uranium still emits one-third of its original level of radioactivity.
The military uses depleted uranium to tip bullets and tank shells, praising the material's ability to make metals super-hard so that they can penetrate steel as easily as butter. But what the military neglects to consider is that the downside to this technology far outweighs its benefits. Once bullets reach their destinations, they explode upon impact, releasing a fine, radioactive, aerosol mist. These toxic particles travel in the wind, mix with water and soil, and are inhaled and ingested by anyone in their path.
U.S. and British forces used Operation Desert Storm as a testing ground for the widespread employment of depleted uranium in Gulf War I. It is estimated that over 940,000 30-mm uranium-tipped bullets and 14,000 large-caliber depleted rounds were used. Even before the second Gulf War, between 350 and 800 tons of depleted uranium residue, with a half-life of 4.4 billion years, permeated the ground and water of Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
In light of such immense pollution, it is easy to see that many people have come into contact with depleted uranium. Inhalation and ingestion of the substance were unavoidable for troops in close proximity to exploding shells. In addition, soldiers spent long hours sitting in tanks, handling uranium-laced shells and casings. Weapons were also taken home as souvenirs. Families of veterans came in contact with the substance after handling clothing laced with it.
The veterans and their families were unaware that DU is deadly. In addition all the people in Iraq, their children and the pregnant women did not realize what DU was doing to them and what it will continue to do.
The insidious action of depleted uranium in the body was illustrated by scientists at the Defense Department's Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Maryland, in research presented to the American Association for Cancer Research and the Society of Toxicology. They tested the effects of embedded DU by inserting shrapnel-like pellets into the legs of rats, and they were surprised at how quickly they discovered oncogenes--genes believed to be precursors to cancer. Another finding was that depleted uranium kills suppressor, or health-maintaining, genes. The experiments also demonstrated that DU spreads throughout the body, depositing itself in the brain and spleen, among other organs, and that it can be passed by a pregnant rat to a developing fetus. [xxxv]
Many of the symptoms experienced by Gulf War veterans and their families are indicative of radiation poisoning. Some of these are nausea, vomiting, wasting, memory loss, and raised rates of cancer. As has been mentioned, vets' children are manifesting an alarming rate of birth defects, lowered immunity, and childhood cancers, some of which may be due to radiation-affected sperm.
Dr. Jay Gould, author of The Enemy Within: The High Cost of Living Near Nuclear Reactors, has long been an outspoken critic of low-level radiation. Gould says that exposure to depleted uranium released into the atmosphere poses the same grave dangers as does any other exposure to uranium. [xxxvi] "There is nothing new about it," Gould says, stressing that a biochemical impact of low-level radiation is that it immediately attacks the immune response. Since the immune response is a key factor in maintaining good health, this means that people are then vulnerable to any kind of infection or allergic response. So, everything from cancer to allergies to multiple chemical sensitivities can be activated by the uranium dust.
Gould adds that one of the reasons people generally ignore the problem is that low-level radiation is often confused with background radiation: "background radiation is something that humans have lived with for hundreds of thousands of years. Over that long period, our immune response has developed a capacity to resist natural forms of radiation from cosmic rays and radiation in the soil. But ever since the nuclear age began, we have introduced new fission products, like radioactive iodine and radioactive strontium, that are released in the operation of a nuclear reactor or an explosion of a bomb. These have the ability to impact the immune response. This is what we mean by low-level radiation. It's an internal radiation. In other words, if you ingest a fission product or a piece of uranium dust, it is like having a tiny x-ray go off for a tiny fraction of a second for the rest of your life. The effects of low-level radiation are quite awful, depending on which organ is affected."
There have been several army reports on the dangers of depleted uranium, which have been released by the Depleted Uranium Citizens' Network. [xxxvii] In November, 1996, Sara Flounders, coordinator of the International Action Center, a network of organizations and activists which was initiated by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, pointed out that one of these reports, which was put out by the Army Environmental Policy Institute, discusses the negative health and environmental consequences of depleted uranium use in the army. [xxxviii] According to the report, the financial implications of long-term disability payments and other health care costs would be excessive if depleted uranium were indicted as a causative agent for Desert Storm illnesses. This may be why depleted uranium had not been discussed as a cause of Gulf War Syndrome, Flounders feels.
Since we've used depleted uranium in the Gulf War, in the Balkans, in Kosovo and in our current Gulf War, there are hundreds of thousands and even millions of people who have been exposed. Could you imagine if all the millions of people in Iraq and other countries would now present lawsuits for health consequences due to depleted uranium? We're looking at a magnitude of expense that we have never seen before in American history. It would make the cost of Hurricane Katrina seem like chump change. We're talking about trillions of dollars. Needless to say, the people in the administration are fully aware of the consequences.
Since the first Gulf War, Depleted Uranium has been used in the Balkans and Kosovo, and, most recently, in the current Gulf mission. It has been suspected as the culprit in lung and kidney illnesses, as it can be transmitted either by drinking it, as it is soluable in water, or can be breathed in as it creates a fine dust when it hits armored vehicles. Soldiers in Kosovo have complained of an illness that causes extreme lethargy. Since government officials have not recognized an official illness caused by the use of Depleted Uranium; the official word is that Uranium radiation in the areas where it was used does not exceed background radiation. [xxxix] Despite suspicions as to the relationships between the use of depleted uranium and disease, up to the year 2001, no extensive health research had been completed to determine the long-term effects of repeated DU exposure. [xl]
A recently published peer review study of Gulf War vets in 2005 equivocated on the reality of Gulf War Illness for soldiers in the first Gulf War, but did admit that there was some higher but not statistically significant increase in death rates for soldiers who came into contact with depleted uranium and pesticides. [xli] This paper was produced by the University of Aberdeen Public Health Department in the UK. A recent examination of the effects of depleted uranium in lung cell lines indicates that uranium changes biochemical processes of certain regulatory pathways within the lung tissues. [xlii] In rat tissue cells, dramatic decrease in certain liver enzymes occurred, and other results indicate an increase in mRNA response (precursors to the cellular enzymes) to make up for the previous decrease in enzyme production. [xliii]
Another paper by the Laboratoire de Radiotoxicologie Experimentale in Marseille, France seemed to suggest that at least in animal studies, depleted uranium inhalation could cause damage to certain lung cells by changing base pairs on one side of the double stranded DNA helix, and that radiation subsequently within the cell could damage the other side of the helix as well. [xliv] Introduction of depleted uranium into rat trachea caused increased enzyme activity in rat testes three months later. [xlv] In mouse cell lines, depleted uranium caused DNA mutations, and the authors point out that DNA mutations were not only caused by radiation, but the actual presence of the chemical was toxic as well. [xlvi] White blood cells of folks exposed to the effects of depleted uranium in Bosnia and Herzegovina had measured changes in the genetic material in these cells. [xlvii] In addition a study in Israel showed that concentrations in hair, nails, and urine were directly correlated to the amounts of depleted uranium ingested in the water. [xlviii] A rat study shows that neurological exposure to depleted uranium may influence motor behavior in rats as well as memory loss. [xlix] Despite the lack of extensive human cohort studies these data seem to suggest that Depleted Uranium present in the bodily systems affects the various tissues throughout the body.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine studied vets who were exposed to friendly fire in the first Gulf War, and over a period of longer than a decade, vets were continuing to show elevated levels of depleted uranium in their urine. [l] The presence of increased depleted uranium research in the literature indicates a growing consensus that exposure to Depleted Uranium is a cause for concern.
Yet officially our government says that DU is not a problem. As we conclude this segment of this ongoing report, I say that depleted uranium is a problem. Whether you agree or disagree with the war, everyone agrees that we should support fully our troops, and that includes those who are coming home sick and who should be given the kind of treatment they deserve.
Notes
[i] Natural Health and Longevity Resource Center, "Gulf War Syndrome Biological Warfare Conducted on U.S. Military Members, and Corporate Bio-Genocide Levied on the Planetary Population." Captain Joyce Riley and Editorial Commentary Val Valerian Lecture, Houston, Texas January 15, 1996. January, 2006[ii] Drs. Garth and Nancy Nicolson, Personal interview, May 7, 1996.[iii] United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, 1948.[iv] MK Hart, RA Del Giudice, and GW Korch, Jr., "Absence of mycoplasma contamination in the anthrax vaccine," Emerg Infect Dis. Jan 2002; 8(1):94-6.[v] MK Hart, RA Del Giudice, and GW Korch, Jr., "Absence of mycoplasma contamination in the anthrax vaccine," Emerg Infect Dis. Jan 2002; 8(1):94-6..[vi] MK Hart, RA Del Giudice, and GW Korch, Jr., "Absence of mycoplasma contamination in the anthrax vaccine," Emerg Infect Dis. Jan 2002; 8(1):94-6.[vii]A Kojima, T Takahashi, M Kijima, "Detection of Mycoplasma in avian live virus vaccines by polymerase chain reaction," Biologicals. Dec 1997; 25(4):365-71..[viii] T Sasaki, R Harasawa, M Shintani, "Application of PCR for detection of mycoplasma DNA and pestivirus RNA in human live viral vaccines," Biologicals. Dec 1996; 24(4):371-5.[ix] T Sasaki, R Harasawa, M Shintani, "Evaluation of current sterility tests for human live viral vaccines," :Biologicals. Mar 1996;24(1):51-5.[x] Donald S. McAlvaney, Editor, "Germ Warfare Against America: Part IIc - Forced Inoculations Of U.S. Troops," McAlvaney Intelligence Advisor (MIA) August 1996 [xi] Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 9, 1997.[xii] Carol Picou, Personal Interview, Aug. 8, 1997.[xiii] Carol Picou, Personal Interview, Aug. 8, 1997.[xiv] Gary M. Null, "The Gulf War Syndrome: Causes and the Cover-up," Penthouse Magazine, September 1994. Reprinted with permission of the author, Paragraphs 32 and 33.[xv] Gary M. Null, "The Gulf War Syndrome: Causes and the Cover-up," Penthouse Magazine, September 1994. Reprinted with permission of the author, Paragraph 35.[xvi]Gary M. Null, "The Gulf War Syndrome: Causes and the Cover-up," Penthouse Magazine, September 1994. Reprinted with permission of the author, Paragraphs 36 and 37.[xvii]Paul M. Rodriguez, "Anti-AIDS Mix Found in Gulf Vets," The Washington Times, Aug. 11, 1997.[xviii] Michael Devitt, "Vaccines May Be Linked to Gulf War Syndrome DOD to Review Possible Use of Illegal Additive," Dynamic Chiropractic June 12, 2000, 18(13). [xix] Michael Devitt, "Vaccines May Be Linked to Gulf War Syndrome DOD to Review Possible Use of Illegal Additive," Dynamic Chiropractic June 12, 2000, 18(13). [xx] Pam Asa, Personal Interview, Aug. 9, 1997.[xxi] "Squalene: The next wave of global pharmacological warfare Fish oil vaccine adjuvant programs bodies for 'endless loop of self-destruction'," Idaho Observer March 2005.[xxii] Mark Zeller, Personal Interview, July 29, 1997.[xxiii] Michael Devitt, "FDA Tests Find Squalene in Anthrax Vaccine Government Admits Banned Substance Exists in Vaccines, but Maintains It Does No Harm," Dynamic Chiropractic November 15, 2000, 18(24). [xxiv]"Squalene: The next wave of global pharmacological warfare Fish oil vaccine adjuvant programs bodies for 'endless loop of self-destruction'," Idaho Observer March 2005.[xxv] Squalene: The next wave of global pharmacological warfare Fish oil vaccine adjuvant programs bodies for 'endless loop of self-destruction'," Idaho Observer March 2005.[xxvi] Jonathan Tucker, The Nonproliferation Review, Spring/Summer 1997.[xxvii] Jon Swain and James Adams, "Saddam Gives Local Commanders Go-Ahead for Chemical Attacks," London Times , Sunday Feb. 3, 1991, p. 1.[xxviii] Tom Masland and Douglas Waller, "Are We Ready for Chemical War?," Newsweek, Mar. 4, 1991, p. 29.[xxix]Dennis Bernstein, "Gulf War Syndrome Covered Up," Covert Action Quarterly, No. 53.[xxx] Dennis Bernstein, "Gulf War Syndrome Covered Up," Covert Action Quarterly, No. 53.[xxxi] Sarah Mc Clendon, "Corporate Foreign Policy Treachery Pointed Weapons Back at Americans," Media Bypass Magazine, January 1996.[xxxii] Philip Shenon, "Powell Says He Had No Evidence Of Toxic Chemicals in Gulf War," The New York Times, Dec. 3, 1996, pp. 1, 16.[xxxiii]Dennis Bernstein and Thea Kelley, "The Gulf War Comes Home; Sickness Spreads, But the Pentagon Denies All," The Progressive, Mar. 1995, pp. 30-34.[xxxiv]WISE Uranium Project, "Contamination of Persian Gulf War Veterans and Others by Depleted Uranium," Leonard A. Dietz, Feb. 21, 1999, January 2006[xxxv] Bill, Mesler, The Nation, May 26, 1997.[xxxvi] Dr. Jay Gould, Personal Interview, Oct. 28, 1996.[xxxvii] Depleted Uranium Citizens' Network, "Radioactive Battlefields of the 1990s: The United States Army's Use of Depleted Uranium and its Consequences for Human Health and the Environment," The Military Toxics Project Jan. 16, 1996.[xxxviii] Sara Flounders, Personal Interview, Nov. 1996.[xxxix] "Depleted Uranium and its deadly legacy" , January 15, 2001, January, 2006[xl] R L Kathren, "Recent studies of the mortality and cancer morbidity experience of uranium workers and a fresh look at depleted uranium," J. Radiol. Prot. , 2001;Vol. 21, pps. 105-107.[xli]Gary J. Macfarlane , Matthew Hotopf, "Long-term mortality amongst Gulf War Veterans: is there a relationship with experiences during deployment and subsequent morbidity? " International Journal of Epidemiology, Dec 2005; 34(6):1403-1408. Epub 2005 Oct 26.[xlii] V Malard, O Prat, "Proteomic analysis of the response of human lung cells to uranium," Proteomics, 2005 Nov;5(17):4568-80.[xliii] "Short-term hepatic effects of depleted uranium on xenobiotic and bile acid metabolizing cytochrome P450 enzymes in the rat," Arch Toxicol. Oct 18, 2005; pp. 1-9[xliv] "Genotoxic and Inflammatory Effects of Depleted Uranium Particles Inhaled by Rats," Toxicol Sci. Jan 2006; 89(1):287-295. Epub 2005 Oct 12.[xlv] "Inducible nitric oxide synthase gene expression in the testis of rats instilled with depleted uranium particles," Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue. Sep. 2005; 11(9):655-7.[xlvi] "Uranyl acetate induces hprt mutations and uranium-DNA adducts in Chinese hamster ovary EM9 cells," Mutagenesis Nov 2005; 20(6):417-23. Epub 2005 Sep 29.[xlvii] "Micronuclei frequencies in peripheral blood lymphocytes of individuals exposed to depleted uranium," Arh Hig Rada Toksikol. Sep 2005; 56(3):227-32.[xlviii] "Measurement of the 234U/238U ratio by MC-ICPMS in drinking water, hair, nails, and urine as an indicator of uranium exposure source," Health Phys. Oct 2005; 89(4): 315-21.[xlix] Neurosci Lett. Dec 16, 2005; 390(1):31-6.[l]"Biological monitoring and surveillance results of Gulf War I veterans exposed to depleted uranium," Int Arch Occup Environ Health Aug 2, 2005; 1-11.
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