Anthrax vax - Appeals court upholds dismissal of vaccine suit

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Appeals court upholds dismissal of vaccine suit

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Nedra

Pickler, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 32 mins ago

http://news./s/ap/20090929/ap_on_go_ot/us_anthrax_vaccine

WASHINGTON ­ A federal appeals court on Tuesday

upheld a program that requires some members of

the military to be vaccinated against anthrax

over objections from service members who say the

vaccine has not been proven to be effective.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington upheld a

lower court's decision dismissing a case brought

by eight service members who challenged the Food

and Drug Administration's determination that the vaccine was effective.

The plaintiffs also wanted to stop the Defense

Department's requirement that service members at

risk for anthrax exposure must be vaccinated.

Anthrax is a bacterial disease caused by

infection with spores that mainly affects animals

but that humans can contract through skin

contact, inhalation and ingestion. Inhaled

anthrax is more difficult to treat and can be fatal.

The military's vaccine, produced by

Michigan-based Bioport Corp., was approved based

on a human test in the 1950s that studied textile

workers at risk for the disease because they

routinely handled infected imported goat hair.

Since then industrial conditions have improved

and there has not been another study because of

the health risks associated with exposing people to the spores.

The service members argued that because the one

human study included only a few inhalation cases,

there is insufficient evidence to conclude the

vaccine is effective against them.

But the appeals court ruled that the service

members who filed the suit did not provide any

scientific evidence to prove the vaccine was

ineffective. " We are presented with a scientific

judgment by the FDA to which we owe considerable deference, " the court found.

J. Michels Jr., attorney for the service

members, said the case shows how difficult it is

to challenge a ruling by a federal agency. He

said they had not decided whether to appeal the case further.

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Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

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