NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain — Even with his 33-year military career on the line, Lt. Col. Jay Lacklen wants the Air Force to court-martial him.
By refusing to take another anthrax shot earlier this year, he thought he would get his wish. Facing a military judge, Lacklen said, would allow him to argue that the Pentagon’s controversial vaccine contains a harmful booster called squalene, which he claims is causing a string of mysterious maladies in his squadron.
Representative Jack Metcalf of the State of Washington revealed in a report today that the FDA found squalene in the anthrax vaccine being forced upon US service members. The report was presented at a House National Security Subcommittee (Representative Christopher Shays, R-CT, Chairman) Gulf War Illness hearing. Representative Metcalf's full report should be available on his website Thursday, September 28, 2000.
The FDA confirmed the presence of squalene in the anthrax vaccine by using a more sensitive test than one used by the Pentagon. Squalene is not an FDA-approved substance and its consequences on health are unknown. As a vaccine booster ingredient, it is thought to increase immunity, but its use has been denied time and again by the Pentagon. Congressman Metcalf again called on the Pentagon to immediately halt the anthrax vaccine program until the squalene source is identified and its health consequences studied.
The revelation on squalene today more clearly establishes that the Pentagon may be conducting medical experiments on service members. Other Congressional hearings have already established that the Pentagon conducted defacto experiments because it avoided organization-level FDA review before changing the way the vaccine is used and administered.
The exodus of hundreds of military members over the vaccine demonstrates the gravity of this issue as it relates to Pentagon integrity and the overall national defense capability. Young people thinking of joining the military may decline a tour or career when faced with such questionable and risky employee treatment. The recruiting impacts of this issue are highlighted today by House and Senate Armed Services Committee testimony that the military may need up to 50,000 more members to meet current global obligations.
The illness known as Gulf war syndrome looks likely to have been caused by an illegal vaccine "booster" given by the Ministry of Defence to protect soldiers against biological weapons, according to the results of a new series of tests.
Scientists in the United States found that symptoms of the illness were the same for service personnel who received the injections whether or not they served in the Gulf.
The common factor for the 275,000 British and US veterans who are ill appears to be a substance called squalene, allegedly used in injections to add to their potency. Such an action would have been illegal. Squalene is not licensed for use on either side of the Atlantic because of potential side effects.
Pam Asa and her team at the Tulane medical school in Louisiana tested more than 300 former US military personnel who were given vaccinations to go to the Gulf: 95% tested positive for squalene antibodies.
In addition veterans from both sides of the Atlantic were tested, including 20 who were given preparatory injections but who did not go to the war. All 20 tested positive to squalene antibodies.
