Op/Ed Articles, Press Releases, News, Background

By licensing what would previously have remained an experimental drug, one opens up the possibility of forced use, with no need for informed consent. The Nuremberg Convention, first nibbled at by mandating use of experimental drugs in the Gulf War theater, looks like it is about to be completely overturned. [Click to read entire article]

Mr. President, you must decide if the assessment of the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - that the anthrax vaccine is the 'centerpiece' of biological defense - is correct. Does a vaccine documented by DoD as 'not licensed for aerosol exposure expected in a biological warfare environment,' originating from a plant that remained closed for quality control problems for the life of the program, fit this description? You must decide whether the rule of law is ollowed. [Click to read entire article]

In the case of the AVIP, a process analysis of the vaccineās history should have dictated the ORM bottom-line to kick in: "itās not worth the risk, donāt do it." The vaccine was known to be too reactive, of limited effectiveness, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shut down the manufacturer for significant quality control violations. Members of the Joint Staff, soldiers, and even field level commanders expressed this view at various times prior to and during the implementation of the AVIP. Yet, at some level within the Office of the Secretary of Defense or the Executive branch, the analysis was ignored, and the required "knock it off," demanded when the safety of the troops is placed in jeopardy, never occurred. Click to read entire article]

We would like to advise you that such a survey will not give you verifiable, solid results. Troops on active duty are not allowed to talk about the vaccine, or are punished if they do speak about it negatively; if they refuse the vaccine - on file with the FDA as an Investigational New Drug - they are fined, court-martialed, and drummed out of the service with a less-than-honorable discharge; and if they are having adverse reactions and fly for a living, they are loathe to report them for fear of having their flying privileges taken away. [Click to read entire article]

The Anthrax Vaccine Network, Inc. (AVN) today issued a formal protest against the "height of immorality, stupidity, and lack of concern for the public health" as represented by the request of drug companies and the Bush Administration to waive FDA rules in vaccine manufacturing, and to use stockpiled, expired, and quarantined doses of the highly reactive, dangerous anthrax vaccine on the American public. [Click to read entire article]

Mr. President, the A.V.I.P. constitutes medical experimentation on those who wear the uniform of our country, and the consequences have been disastrous. We are losing people who were completely committed to serving our country through a), medical discharge, b), court-martial for refusing to risk their health to this dangerous, highly reactive vaccine, or c), outright resignation. Yet we are now at war - and we need these fine people in ways we never imagined just two months ago. Furthermore, we have left our general citizenry unprotected by wasting many years and millions of taxpayer dollars on an unsound, unsafe, and illegal approach to this vaccine. [Click to read entire article]