Re: Veterans for Integrity in Government ( Eddington) Lawsuit re Anthrax

[Guest guest]

I would like to write to the veterans group also. Could you please let me

know how to do this. I am on acitve duty and am nursing my 6 month old son.

I went through all kinds of paperwork and trouble to get my waiver so I

could hold off getting the shots until I was finished nursing. They gave me

6 more months. I am still concerned when I finish nursing. I am also

concerned about young airmen who do not realize they have the right to

question Col's decisions, especially about health matters. I know there

must be plenty of nursing mothers who will take the shot while nursing

because they have been told it is safe to do so, or will give up nursing

prematurely just because they have to take to the shot. I would like to

voice my concerns to this group. Thanks you.

> gwvm Anthrax Story 06/30/98

> Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 17:30:03 -0700 (PDT)

> From: hafemeis@... (Rod Hafemeister)

> edited

>

> June 30, 1998

> Veterans group files lawsuit

> Anthrax vaccine's use is questioned

>

> By Rod Hafemeister

> Belleville News-Democrat

>

> A veterans group Monday filed a lawsuit demanding the government prove

> its

> anthrax vaccination program is safe and effective while the latest group

> of

> sailors heading for the Persian Gulf reportedly are refusing to take the

>

> shots.

> Veterans for Integrity in Government filed suit in federal court in

> Washington, D.C., against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the

> Army, Navy and Air Force.

> The organization is asking for copies of all studies regarding the

> safety,

> effectiveness and necessity of the anthrax vaccination program.

> " We have evidence that the military has relabeled and redated expired

> vaccine lots and administered these lots to active duty servicemen, "

> said

> Mark Zaid, attorney for the veterans group.

> Last month, the Belleville News-Democrat reported that sailors in the

> gulf

> received a batch of vaccine that FDA inspectors determined had been

> improperly given a new expiration date and had not been properly tested

> for

> safety.

> Last week, a spokesman for the Army Medical Command confirmed that all

> of

> the shots given in the gulf this year came from the same batch of

> vaccine.

> Spokesman Vaughn also corrected a letter from Lt. Gen.

> Blanck, the Army surgeon general, published in the News-Democrat on June

> 4.

> Blanck claimed that the FDA had " inspected and approved every lot of

> anthrax vaccine, " including the one used in the gulf.

> " The manufacturer tests each lot for sterility, safety and potency, "

> Vaughn

> said. " After the lots have passed this testing, the data is submitted to

>

> the FDA, which approves the lot for use. "

> An inspection of the plant done in February showed that the batch of

> vaccine was improperly relabeled and was not tested for sterility or

> safety, FDA records show.

> In April, about two dozen sailors on two aircraft carriers in the gulf

> were

> punished for refusing to take the shots.

> Now another ship has apparently been hit with vaccination refusals. Bob

> Aguilar, a Las Vegas man whose son is serving on the USS Abraham

> Lincoln,

> said his son and about 150 other sailors on the ship refused to take the

>

> shots after the ship set sail for the Persian Gulf.

> Navy officials did not return calls seeking comment Monday. The Lincoln

> is

> scheduled to replace the USS Stennis on duty in the gulf next month.

> Eddington, a former CIA analyst who now is executive director of

>

> Veterans for Integrity in Government, said his organization has received

>

> numerous requests for help from military personnel who have refused to

> take

> the vaccine.

> " We now have confirmed refusals by military personnel in the United

> States,

> the Persian Gulf and aboard a number of U.S. Navy vessels, " he said. " We

>

> know of a number of others in Korea, Japan, Italy and Germany who intend

> to

> refuse. Our organization is now answering multiple inquiries per week

> from

> active duty personnel regarding the safety and efficacy of this

> vaccine. "

> In December, the Pentagon announced plans to vaccinate all 2.4 million

> active duty, Guard and Reserve troops against anthrax over five or six

> years. Vaccinations began for troops in the Persian Gulf in March.

> But many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War question whether the anthrax

> vaccinations they received were partly responsible for the mysterious

> illnesses some of them have.

>

> © 1998 Belleville News-Democrat, Belleville, Ill.

>

>