This website exists to inform military servicemembers and the American public about the Department of Defense anthrax vaccination immunization program (AVIP). The website was originally started to highlight the case of former Air Force Major Sonnie Bates, who testified before Congress about the illnesses he believed were caused by the vaccine and who ultimately became the most senior military officer to refuse it. In response -- and like Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, the founding father of the United States Air Force -- Major Bates was threatened with court-martial simply for telling the truth. But one day before the release of a scathing report on the anthrax vaccination policy by Congress, the Pentagon agreed to allow him a general discharge under honorable conditions. Other servicemembers have not been so fortunate, and continue to be court-martialed, jailed, and sent to "correctional custody" reeducation camps for their refusal to take the anthrax vaccine. Other previously healthy servicemembers have taken the anthrax vaccine and have subsequently suffered serious long-term ailments including heart problems, autoimmune disorders, thyroid dysfunction, and lupus, while the military medical community denies any connection between the anthrax vaccine and their illnesses.

The Department of Defense has repeatedly characterized any information opposing the anthrax vaccine as "internet disinformation." In response, the majority of information on this website comes verbatim from third party sources: media, government, or academia. We believe this information supports the finding of both the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (1994) and the House Government Reform Committee (2000), that the anthrax vaccine is "investigational" and therefore, under U.S. Law (10 USC 1107) and Executive Order (E.O. 13139), it requires the informed consent of servicemembers. However, in violation of both the U.S. law and the Nuremberg Code, the Department of Defense has denied American servicemembers the right of informed consent and is forcing them to take this investigational vaccine. We believe that the Pentagon's continued use of this vaccine constitutes a serious failure of leadership and a compromise of ethical standards by the nation's senior military leaders.

We urge all U.S. servicembers to seek competent legal counsel before agreeing to be forced to take the anthrax vaccine. We also urge you to contact Congress with your views about this policy. If you have an experience with the anthrax vaccine that you wish to relate to House Government Reform Committee investigators, please email them at: anthrax@mail.house.gov .  Last, we urge you to contribute money to help fight for servicemembers' health rights.