Judges Halt Mandatory Military Anthrax Shots

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Judges Halt Forced Military Anthrax Shots

By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon (news - web sites) must stop forcing

servicemen and women to take the anthrax vaccination against their

will, unless President Bush (news - web sites) signs a special order,

a judge ruled Monday.

Millions of shots have been given and hundreds of service members

have been punished for refusing them since the mandatory vaccinations

started in 1998.

The judge ruled that the anthrax vaccinations fell under a 1998 law

prohibiting the use of certain experimental drugs unless people being

given the drug consent or the president waives the consent

requirement.

Congress passed the law following fears that the use of such drugs

may have led to unexplained illnesses among veterans of the 1991

Persian Gulf War (news - web sites) that have come to be known as

Gulf War Syndrome (news - web sites).

" The women and men of our armed forces put their lives on the line

every day to preserve and safeguard the freedoms that all Americans

cherish and enjoy, " said Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States

District Court in Washington.

" Absent an informed consent or presidential waiver, the United States

cannot demand that members of the armed forces also serve as guinea

pigs for experimental drugs, " Sullivan said.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment.

Sullivan rejected the government concern that military discipline

would be harmed if courts intervene between soldiers and their

military superiors.

Believing Iraq (news - web sites) and other nations had produced

anthrax weapons, former Secretary of Defense Cohen in 1997

ordered the armed forces immunized.

Shots started in 1998 for soldiers in areas believed to present the

highest risk of infection — the Persian Gulf, then Korea.