law - August 16, 2005 05:59 PM EDT

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A19

LENGTH: 419 words

HEADLINE: HELP SOUGHT FOR GULF VETERANS;
CANCER RISK TIED TO SARIN

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs is asking the Veterans Administration to make it easier for Gulf War veterans to get medical assistance for war-related, cancer-causing exposures.

Chairman Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he believes federal medical aid should help those Gulf War veterans exposed to the chemical warfare agent sarin gas, which the study says appears to cause deadly brain cancer.

U.S. Army veterans of the first Gulf War inhaled low levels of sarin during demolition of Iraqi munitions bunkers. They appear to have a higher risk for dying of brain cancer than those not exposed, according to a study published this week by the American Public Health Association.

Researchers compared causes of death among those selected from a group of 100,487 veterans, possibly exposed to the nerve agent, with those among 224,980 Gulf War veterans who were not exposed to nerve agents. More than 100,000 soldiers were suspected to have been exposed to low level sarin gas in March 1991, when the army supervised demolition of Iraqi weapons bunkers in Khamisiyah, Iraq.

While the risks of most disease-related mortality were similar for exposed and unexposed veterans, exposed veterans had twice the risk of death from brain cancer, researchers said.

For five years, before the bunker explosions gained notoriety, high ranking Pentagon officials denied -- even under oath before Congress -- that soldiers were exposed to deadly warfare gases. However, they acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of chemical alarms had sounded during the conflict. Those alarms were false, officials insisted, yet the Defense Department never replaced the alarms.

The CIA admitted in April 1997 that it knew in advance that chemical weapons might be present in the Iraqi munitions bunkers that were detonated by the unprotected U.S. troops. CIA officials also acknowledged that they and other government agencies, including the Defense Department, did not focus on the potential hazards from the chemical exposures until well after thousands of veterans complained of health problems years after the war.

Even after these disclosures, Pentagon officials insisted that low levels of sarin and mustard gas were not a major cause of sicknesses among veterans of the war.

Tuesday the Pentagon's Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director for the Deployment Health Support Directorate, said: ``Medical science at that time indicated that if service members had no acute effects, long-term health consequences were unlikely.

LOAD-DATE: July 29, 2005

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A10

LENGTH: 577 words

HEADLINE: GAO QUESTIONS MONITORING IN IRAQ;
SOIL QUALITY AN ISSUE SINCE 1991 WAR

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

The investigative arm of Congress says the Department of Defense is not adequately monitoring the quality the soil in Iraq to determine whether U.S. service members fighting there are being exposed to hazardous materials.

The monitoring is considered crucial, according to the U.S. General Accountability Office, in light of the illnesses experienced by hundreds of thousands of veterans of the first Persian Gulf War in 1991, and similar illnesses among thousands of service members who have been in Iraq and Afghanistan.

``Data collection methods for air and soil surveillance have varied across the [armed] services,'' the GAO reported earlier this week. ``Variations in data collection have been compounded by different levels of training and expertise among [environmental] service personnel responsible.''

The Pentagon disagrees, however, saying that its health officials have made substantial progress in providing for the immediate and long-term health care for war veterans.

The GAO cited a lack of standardization in testing of the environmental samples taken by the military and in the reporting of findings.

Uniform air and soil sampling would provide meaningful comparisons when analyzing service members' illnesses. It would also enable service members to determine their potential exposures.

``Access to the centralized [environmental report] archive has been limited due to the [confidential or secret] security classification of most reports,'' according to the GAO. ``It will be difficult to link most reports to individual service members' records because not all data on service members' deployment locations have been submitted to DOD's centralized tracking database.''

Thousands of service members and their families have complained that they have not received adequate health care, diagnosis or federal compensation for a host of long-term illnesses they say are due to wartime exposures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hazardous exposures in the first Gulf War included low-level chemical warfare agents, depleted uranium dust from U.S. munitions, experimental drugs, battlefield bacteria, smoke from oil well fires, unclean drinking water, pesticides, fumes from specialized military vehicle paint and disease carrying insects.

The exposures now in Iraq and Afghanistan include depleted uranium munitions dust, adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine, unclean drinking water, pesticides and insects.

More than 300,000 of the 697,000 service members during the first Gulf War sought medical assistance from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In the current conflicts through February of this year, 360,674 service members have been discharged and 85,857 of them, or 24 percent, have sought VA health care, said Jim Benson, a VA spokesman.

Those who have recently left military service are reporting a wide range of medical and psychological conditions, Benson said. Health problems have encompassed more than 5,300 discrete diagnostic codes, he explained.

Despite these health problems, said the GAO, defense and VA officials [say], ``no federal research plan has been developed to evaluate the long term health of service members deployed in support of [the present war in Iraq], including the effects of potential exposures to occupational or environmental hazards.''

After the first Persian Gulf War, the defense department spent more than $247 million investigating the illnesses of service members so the Pentagon could better assist sick veterans.

LOAD-DATE: July 23, 2005

SECTION: CONNECTICUT; Pg. B7

LENGTH: 582 words

HEADLINE: STATE CHALLENGING TESTS FOR DEPLETED URANIUM

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

Connecticut is now the second state in the nation to challenge the validity of the tests the federal government uses to check military personnel for ingested or inhaled depleted uranium dust from U.S. munitions explosions.

The new law requires the state adjutant general and the veterans' affairs commissioner to assist Connecticut guardsmen and veterans in obtaining ``a best practice health screening test for exposure to depleted uranium.'' Last month, Louisiana passed similar, less detailed legislation demanding better depleted uranium testing paid for by the federal government.

Connecticut's bill, signed by Gov. Jodi Rell last week, requires the state adjutant general to train guardsmen so they can adequately determine whether they have been exposed to the dust. It sets up a task force to study the health effects of depleted uranium and other hazards wartime service members have been exposed to since August 1990. And it requires a registry of sick veterans, a plan to help them and a report on the task force's operations by the end of January.

Before it became law, the Connecticut bill bounced around from committee to committee and its wording was changed several times, but it retained one of its central purposes. It challenges a Pentagon and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs urine testing program that some health experts insist is insufficient to detect the effects of depleted uranium, and that advocates say has tested only a relative few of those exposed to the dust.

One New Haven veteran, Melissa Sterry, 42, a former U.S. Army Specialist, who said she suffered multiple illnesses as a result of cleaning tanks and other vehicles during the first Persian Gulf War, lobbied the bill at every turn. On several occasions, Sterry thought the bill was dead.

``I'm just stunned. I think it is great!'' Sterry said Tuesday when she was told Rell had signed the bill. ``I'm ecstatic that Connecticut has chosen to lead the nation in proactive caring for veterans.''

State Rep. Roger Michele, a Bristol Democrat and a veteran of the Vietnam War, who shepherded the bill through its final stages, said: ``I remember Agent Orange and the problems our veterans had fighting to get health care through the federal bureaucracy. DU is the Agent Orange of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And our soldiers have made enough sacrifices while risking their lives over there. We need to support them here in saving their lives.''

Two legislators initially proposed separate portions of the bill. State Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, called for scientific testing of those exposed to depleted uranium dust, while State Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-West Haven, chair of the Veterans Committee, proposed the task force to supervise efforts at helping veterans.

``I'm thrilled. I think it is a good step forward,'' said Slossberg, who added that the state has to increase its efforts to help veterans as federal health services are eliminated. Dillon could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Many veterans' advocates say thousands of service members in both Iraq wars and the war in Afghanistan have become seriously ill from the dust from the explosions of the DU munitions. The dust was created from tons of U.S. and British ammunition and bombs used during those conflicts and in the Balkan wars, as well as by the United States in Afghanistan. It can be blown for hundreds of miles. If inhaled or ingested, it can cause a host of maladies including cancers, kidney disease and birth defects.

LOAD-DATE: July 6, 2005

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A14

LENGTH: 625 words

HEADLINE: CRITICS BLAST ANTHRAX VACCINE TEST;
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH OFFICIALS PLAN TRIAL ON 100 CHILDREN

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

The National Institutes of Health is under fire from critics over a plan to test two anthrax vaccines on children.

The trial will test and compare the reactions in humans to the vaccine manufactured by BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Mich., and another being developed by NIH. Bob Bock, an NIH spokesman, said the trial planned for 100 children in first and second grade will not occur until the vaccines are fully tested on 350 adults and shown to be safe for them.

``The results in this study,'' says an NIH announcement, ``will help in the development of improved vaccines for anthrax.'' The NIH and U.S. Health and Human Services Department are calling for development of the vaccine to protect civilians from terrorist or other attacks.

Critics, however, are appalled.

``This vaccine is totally inappropriate for children, because the [exposure] threat is so remote,'' said Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center. ``They will likely never be exposed to anthrax either through contamination by animal products or inhalation of weaponized anthrax.''

``Children are involved in trials of vaccines that benefit children,'' she said, ``but this vaccine will not do so.'' Fisher said based on the NIH announcement of ``rare severe reactions'' to BioPort's vaccine, she fears the parents of children used in the experiments will not be given proper warnings of the vaccine's potential for adverse reactions.

However, Bock said adults and parents or guardians of the children will be given complete information on the two vaccines and their benefits and risks.

``I don't understand how they can do efficacy tests with children at the same time that we are discovering more and more U.S. soldiers who have been harmed by the vaccine,'' said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center for service members and veterans. ``[NIH officials] want parents to want their children to be vaccinated against the anthrax terrorist attacks that have not happened.''

But Bock said that if terrorist attacks occur, both children and adults would be at risk.

BioPort's vaccine, used almost exclusively on soldiers, has already demonstrated an adverse reaction rate 100 times the figure initially stated on the label. Adverse reactions include immune disorders, muscle and joint pain, headaches, rashes, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, chills and fever. At least half a dozen deaths and a number of birth defects have been attributed to its use.

BioPort officials did not respond to repeated messages seeking comment Wednesday.

Retired Air Force Col. John Richardson, who has independently researched the vaccine extensively, said that in 2003, there were 16,869 federal adverse reaction reports for all vaccines and of those, 1,068 were for the anthrax vaccine. The anthrax vaccine drew more than 6 percent of all vaccine complaints, said Richardson, even though anthrax vaccinations represented less than 1 percent of an estimated 100 million immunizations of all types administered that year.

For last year, he said, there were 15,488 federal adverse reaction reports for all vaccines, and 806 for anthrax, or 5.2 percent of the total.

Complaints to the reporting system -- which even federal officials acknowledge typically represent as few as 10 percent of all adverse reactions to vaccines -- can be filed by vaccine users, doctors and medical personnel.

The vaccine, aimed at protecting soldiers against anthrax spores fired into the air in combat, has been under attack by service members and their advocates ever since the Pentagon mandated its use in 1998. Aside from the anthrax spore attacks aimed at government officials 3 1/2 years ago, no such attacks are known to have been used during modern warfare or by terrorists.

LOAD-DATE: June 23, 2005

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A5

LENGTH: 466 words

HEADLINE: LAWMAKERS BACK TESTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

Twenty-two members of Congress are supporting a bill that calls for independent medical and scientific studies of the health and environmental effects of the U.S. military's use of depleted uranium munitions.

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., a doctor, and 21 other Democratic members of Congress introduced the bill on Tuesday, calling for cleanup of firing ranges in this country where the munitions have been used.

``The stakes could not be higher for U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians, and there is not a moment to lose,'' McDermott said on the floor of the House. He called on Republicans to place the bill on the suspension calendar to expedite its passage so sick service members and U.S. and foreign civilians exposed can get medical help.

McDermott's efforts to address the health threats posed by depleted uranium have been supported by U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District.

Depleted uranium is a potential health hazard for the Iraqi people and we need to do all we can to make sure that as Iraq is rebuilt, we help the new Iraqi government mitigate any public health threats,'' Shays said.

McDermott said there needs to be congressional action because of the mixed signals on DU from the Pentagon.

``The Pentagon will say there is no evidence that DU is harmful,'' McDermott said, ``yet, the Pentagon also says soldiers should wear protective gear including special clothing and a respirator around DU. An Iraqi child has no such protective gear. The Iraqi people have no such protections.''

Department of Defense spokeswoman Barbara Goodno did not respond to questions regarding the Pentagon's position on the bill Tuesday.

Hundreds of tons of depleted uranium munitions were fired from U.S. tanks, artillery and aircraft at enemy tanks as well as at bunkers or caves during the first Persian Gulf War and successive wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. The British also have fired the munitions in the wars in Iraq and the Balkans.

DU contaminated dust inhaled or ingested can cause a wide range of health problems including cancer, kidney disease and birth defects.

Some scientists and physicians contend that the serious illnesses experienced by hundreds of thousands of civilians in the four war zones resulted from exposure to it.

And although other scientists and doctors say that's an exaggeration, committees within the United Nations have called for a DU munitions ban because its long-term adverse health impact on civilians violates international law.

Illnesses among service members who were exposed to depleted uranium have the attention of state legislators in Connecticut and Louisiana who are considering independent urine testing of those soldiers. The federal testing program has been criticized as insufficient and limited to relatively few of those exposed and sick.

LOAD-DATE: May 20, 2005

SECTION: CONNECTICUT; Pg. B7

LENGTH: 592 words

HEADLINE: 3 GULF WAR VETERANS SPEAK AT U.N.;
ANTI-NUCLEAR GROUPS HEAR ABOUT ILLNESSES

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

A former Army specialist from New Haven joined two other former U.S. soldiers at the United Nations Tuesday to tell how they became seriously ill from exposure to dust from depleted uranium munitions used in two wars in the Persian Gulf.

The three veterans spoke to anti-nuclear groups on the opening day of a review of the international nuclear nonproliferation treaty. The groups are lobbying for an international ban on the use of munitions manufactured with depleted uranium.

Returning soldiers have blamed exposure to the radioactive dust for myriad chronic health problems affecting the soldiers or their children conceived after their return.

Melissa Sterry was exposed to the radioactive dust in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia while cleaning tanks that had fired shells that contained depleted uranium during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

"I am one of the living examples of what happens when you survive exposure to these materials,'' said Sterry, 42. ``On the outside I look OK, but on the inside, I am dying."

Sterry quoted what she called a National Center of Vital Statistics estimate that 100,000 of 694,000 U.S. veterans of the first gulf war would be dead by 2013.

The shells are designed to penetrate tanks, caves and bunkers with great force and upon impact they create a radioactive and chemical dust that can travel for hundreds of miles. Once inhaled or ingested, the minute particles stay inside the body for years.

Gerard Matthew, a New York National Guardsman, said he was devastated after tests about a year ago determined his baby girl, conceived after he returned home in 2003 from the current Iraq war, would be born with a deformed right hand as a result of his depleted uranium dust exposures. Victoria, now 10 months, cannot stand up for long periods and may have other unknown health problems, he said.

Matthew said he suffers chronic painful headaches and blurred vision caused by what he believes was exposure to radioactive dust in a combat zone. Once he discovered the military had covered up his and his daughter's health problems, Matthew said, "The love for the military was gone. In 10 minutes, I hated it!"

Another guardsman from New York, Herbert Reed, told the international gathering that no one in the military would give him a straight answer about the origin of the illnesses he suffered after returning from Iraq a couple of years ago -- body aches, rashes, boils, joint aches and nerve damage.

Reed would later learn that the effects of depleted uranium were making him ill after the New York Daily News arranged for him and Matthew to undergo independent urine testing to determine its existence in their bodies.

"It's time for them [Pentagon officials] to stand up and tell the truth about DU," Reed said.

The Defense Department has said that it has done extensive urine testing of returning veterans and has found no evidence of serious illnesses among more than 1,000 veterans examined. Pentagon spokesmen have denied the Army was covering up Matthew's and Reed's health conditions.

After Sterry, Matthew and Reed spoke, their words were translated into Japanese for members of the Campaign for Abolition of Depleted Uranium-Japan. Representatives from a number of leading Japanese anti-nuclear groups spoke at the United Nations-hosted sessions.

They were encouraged by the U.N. Department of Disarmament Affairs during this anniversary year of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, first signed by multiple nations in 1970. This year marks the second review of the treaty's provisions since its inception.

LOAD-DATE: May 4, 2005

SECTION: CONNECTICUT; Pg. B1

LENGTH: 1014 words

HEADLINE: A VETERAN'S HEALTH IN RUINS;
NEW HAVEN WOMAN CRUSADES FOR COMPENSATION;
SAYS DEPLETED URANIUM DUST CAUSED SERIOUS PROBLEMS

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

A Persian Gulf War veteran who says exposure to depleted uranium dust ruined her health will be taking her case today to the United Nations.

Melissa Sterry of New Haven will appear with members of the Military Toxic Project, a group attempting to raise international awareness of the long-term health dangers posed by munitions, particularly those with environmental or radioactive effects. The following week she is scheduled to testify about veterans' needs before the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission in Washington, D.C.

Sterry has become a go-to person for advocacy groups since her account of her medical history mesmerized members of Connecticut's General Assembly in February.

Medical records say Sterry has post-traumatic stress, chronic headaches, and upper respiratory infections and repeating pneumonia. She also has three types of irregular heartbeats, muscle fatigue and spasms, joint aches, chronic diarrhea and nausea, vomiting, and blood in her urine and stool.

A 42-year-old former U.S. Army specialist, Sterry suspects her illnesses resulted from her exposure to depleted uranium dust and other hazardous substances while cleaning battle tanks and other front line equipment 14 years ago. However, the government does not concede she is sick from hazardous dust exposures.

Frustrated by the federal government's response, she joined the fight in the state legislature, testifying in favor of two bills meant to address the needs of ill soldiers and veterans who contend they are not getting help at the federal level. Connecticut is the first state to consider legislation that would authorize more testing of soldiers for depleted uranium.

While veterans have started turning to the states for help, Congress for several years now has recognized the need to compensate American nuclear munitions workers sickened by various radioactive materials, including depleted uranium dust.

In 2000, Congress passed legislation authorizing medical compensation for families of sick or dead nuclear munitions workers, many with cancer, who were exposed on the job.

The Department of Defense, meanwhile, insists there is no reliable evidence that soldiers inhaling and ingesting that same anti-tank munitions dust are falling ill because of it.

But doctors have noted similarities in health problems reported by both soldiers and workers exposed to various forms of uranium dust. Though an exact cause has not been identified, there is scientific evidence indicating the symptoms are consistent with those caused by uranium exposure.

``I never cease to be amazed at the hypocrisy of the American government. Here we have two groups dealing with the same hazardous exposures. One can get care and treatment, while the other cannot even get an acknowledgement they are sick from it,'' Sterry said.

The federal Labor and Energy Departments have developed compensation programs, but that doesn't mean the help is there. Civilian nuclear workers constantly complain the agencies have refused to pay legitimate medical claims or to help obtain workers' compensation benefits. At the Pentagon and Veterans Benefits Administration, assistance requests from soldiers and veterans of the gulf wars, now with long-term health problems, have met similar resistance.

Not only have Defense Department officials denied that depleted uranium dust is a health problem, but Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, said that from the outset, the Pentagon has opposed legislation intended to benefit civilian nuclear workers under contract with Defense.

After being asked for comment Thursday, Defense spokesman James Turner said Monday that DOD staff were still unprepared to comment about the agency's position on the legislation.

Depleted uranium, or DU, is a byproduct of uranium enrichment. Although it is far less radioactive than weapon- or reactor-grade uranium, it is still a toxic heavy metal. Its critics say it can be used in a ``dirty'' bomb designed to spread radioactive material with the intent of making an area uninhabitable.

The U.S. military favors DU hardened munitions that burn into and through hardened targets such as tanks, bunkers and caves. But that burning creates a fine dust of uranium oxide easily carried on the wind. When ingested or inhaled, these particles enter the lungs and blood, linger there, and eventually can create cancers, kidney ailments, as well as deformities and cancers in babies whose parents were exposed, according to medical literature.

When Sterry, who is single, retired from the military, she said the Department of Veterans Affairs ignored her depleted uranium dust exposures. A five-year fight with the agency ensued before Sterry obtained disability benefits that the agency refused to classify as DU-related.

``I don't want to be disabled,'' said Sterry, reacting to her extended battle with Veterans Affairs. ``I want to get off it. I'm telling them, `Fix me!''' Unemployed since leaving the military, Sterry has, at times, had trouble dressing and paying for food and a roof over her head.

Marion Fulk, who has for years studied the results of explosions of various nuclear-type weapons, said both enriched uranium and depleted uranium create serious health effects. Fulk is a retired chemical physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project that developed the world's first atomic weapons. He was employed for years at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at the University of California and has decades of experience studying radiation and plutonium health hazards.

Fulk sees the difference between depleted and enriched uranium as one of degree, with the end result being the same. ``Do you want to shoot yourself with one barrel or two barrels of a shotgun?''

``A single, nuclear deterioration will do some biological damage,'' he said. ``It can be a single atom that disintegrates -- or hundredths of a tenth of a micron -- and once it starts, it eventually digests the [human or animal] cell and kills it. By firing a [depleted uranium] dust or dirty bomb, they could put a whole section of New York City out of commission.''

CORRECTION:

Correction published 5/5/05.

A photograph on Page B7 Tuesday showed an M109A3 155mm self-propelled howitzer. The caption incorrectly identified the vehicle as an M1A1 Abrams tank.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO 1: COLOR, KATHY HANLEY / THE HARTFORD COURANT PHOTO 2: (B&W), PHOTO COURTESY OF MELISSA STERRY
PHOTO 1: MELISSA STERRY of New Haven holds uniforms she has kept in hopes of having them tested for depleted uranium dust. Sterry believes her exposure to the dust, while cleaning tanks and other heavy equipment during the first gulf war, has caused her to become sick. She speaks to the United Nations about her plight today. PHOTO 2: SPEC. MELISSA STERRY stands on an M1A1 Abrams tank in a U.S. maintenance depot at Camp Doha in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. She helped clean these tanks without masks or other protective gear that might have helped prevent her exposure to depleted uranium weapons dust.

LOAD-DATE: May 5, 2005

SECTION: CONNECTICUT; Pg. B5

LENGTH: 564 words

HEADLINE: OUTSIDE TESTING URGED FOR AILING VETERANS

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

A state legislator and the attorney general have advised a legislative panel that Connecticut National Guard troops and Reservists returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan need independent testing to determine whether illnesses afflicting many of them could be caused by uranium dust from U.S. munitions.

But what riveted the General Assembly veterans committee was testimony by 42-year-old Army veteran Melissa Sterry of New Haven. Thursday, she lined up her 30 medications and two boxes of medical records in the Legislative Office Building hearing room in Hartford to bolster her words.

``These are my medical records and these are my Army meds,'' said Sterry, an Army specialist in the first gulf war.

``On the outside I look perfectly healthy,'' said Sterry. ``And I'm dying on the inside.''

Sterry said that for six months in 1991 and 1992 and without protective gear, she helped clean tanks and equipment contaminated by uranium dust. Her left leg was crushed in 1992 in a service-related accident.

Today, Sterry said, she suffers from chronic fatigue, chronic diarrhea, joint aches, blood in both her urine and stool, vomiting, nausea, chronic muscle spasms, headaches and upper respiratory infections.

She receives veterans' benefits for her leg injury, muscle spasms, post traumatic stress and diarrhea, the cause of which the military lists as unknown.

Sterry, who is unemployed, said she is still seeking needed medical benefits.

``I don't want to be disabled. I want to work,'' she said. ``I'm saying, `Fix me!'''

The military has found depleted uranium in the urine of some soldiers but contends it was not enough to make them seriously ill in most cases. Critics have asked for more sensitive, more expensive testing.

Sterry said in a telephone interview that after researching depleted uranium she chose not to take the military's test because she could not trust the results.

Earlier in the hearing, state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, who is proposing the measure, said a better test is needed. She said the U.S. Department of Defense should pay for the independent test and if it refuses, service members should have the right to sue.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told the committee he supports the bill.

``This kind of material has been used in unprecedented amounts in these two [war] theaters,'' Blumenthal said.

The U.S. military used depleted uranium munitions in Afghanistan and Iraq extensively to destroy tanks and bunkers.

Depleted uranium is a toxic, heavy metal byproduct of uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons and reactor fuel. It is used in munitions, ballast for airplanes, tank armor and other products. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. When a depleted uranium-tipped projectile hits a metal target, it ignites and burns its way through. A single shot can destroy or disable a tank.

But the fine depleted uranium dust created by the blast can blow in the wind for many miles and if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin in sufficient quantities can cause lung cancer or kidney ailments.

James Benson, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, defends the present test.

``The VA is convinced that the [depleted uranium] screening provided by the VA is not surpassed by anything available from any other source,'' he said. ``The VA will pay for any of the tests done by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.''

LOAD-DATE: February 14, 2005

SECTION: CONNECTICUT; Pg. B1

LENGTH: 1170 words

HEADLINE: LEGISLATOR TAKES UP VETERANS' CAUSE;
WILL BACK DEPLETED URANIUM TESTS

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

Eddie Miles' legs were blown off in Vietnam. Despite his injuries, the Army veteran spent much of the rest of his life obtaining artificial limbs for Vietnamese and Cambodian children injured by the landmines the war left behind.

Inspired by the work of Miles, a high school friend of hers, state Rep. Patricia Dillion, D-New Haven, says she is committed to helping those Connecticut National Guard veterans who were exposed to depleted uranium during the wars in Iraq.

"What [Miles] taught me," Dillon said, "was that the war never ends, because the people who are affected by it continue to suffer, but the politicians forget about it."

Dillon, Democratic deputy majority whip in the House, will propose a bill in the General Assembly to provide for independent laboratory health screening of service members from Connecticut who may have been exposed to depleted uranium munitions dust. The bill probably would have to go through the health and appropriations committees.

During the past three years, Dillon has obtained documents and searched the Internet to find what she considers proof of the health dangers those exposed to depleted uranium, or DU, dust can face. The dust is a byproduct of exploding DU munitions used by the United States and Great Britain in Iraq.

As a legislator and community activist, Dillon, 56, has been involved with financial and other issues for the veterans hospitals in Rocky Hill and West Haven. Her husband, Dr. Jack Hughes, teaches at the Yale University School of Medicine and is an internist and part-time physician at the VA hospital in West Haven.

Dillon said she decided to get involved because veterans hospital administrators and veterans advocates constantly discussed the health crisis faced by veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, including illnesses they believed were related to depleted uranium dust. As planning began for the present war in Iraq, Dillon said, she began to worry that more soldiers would be exposed.

In April, Dillon said, she read in the New York Daily News that independent tests determined that four soldiers from a New York Army National Guard unit probably had become contaminated with dust from the depleted uranium shells fired by U.S. troops in Iraq. When her legislative aides called New York Guard officials to find out what was wrong with the soldiers and what the state was doing about it, Dillon said, they "hit a brick wall of silence and bureaucracy."

The same month she read in the British newspaper The Guardian that British soldiers returning from the war in Iraq were being tested for depleted uranium exposure. That convinced Dillon that Connecticut needs to do the same.

Even though federal law requires blood and health tests for returning war veterans, Dillon said she is not convinced the Pentagon or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is properly screening service members for possible DU poisoning.

Dillon said she plans to lobby hard for her bill when the legislative session opens in January because the health effects of depleted uranium are a "hot button issue." The U.S. Department of Defense has long ignored DU's toxic dangers just as it ignored landmines after Vietnam, Dillon said.

The Defense Department insists the dust is only dangerous when inhaled in large quantities, usually an unlikely event.

The United States and Great Britain used tons of DU to destroy tanks and bunkers in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. They continued to use it in the Balkans, Afghanistan and the present war in Iraq. The inhalation of DU dust by soldiers and civilians has long been suspected as one of the causes of the illness known as gulf war syndrome.

Depleted uranium is a toxic, heavy metal byproduct of uranium enrichment for use in nuclear weapons and reactor fuel. It is also used in munitions, ballast for airplanes, tank armor and other products. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Its use on the tip of shells fired at tanks is lauded by the military because it ignites a fiery mass that can destroy or disable a tank with a single shot.

But the fine DU dust created by the blast can blow in the wind for many miles and if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin in sufficient quantities can cause lung cancer or kidney ailments. In 2002 at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., researchers found that even though the alpha radiation from depleted uranium is relatively low, internalized DU as a metal can induce DNA damage and carcinogenic lesions in the cells that make up bones.

Last December at a national conference of state legislators, Dillon asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about the states' partnering with the Defense Department to pay for health care for returning troops. Rumsfeld, she said, promised to consider less wartime reliance on the National Guard, but did not comment on partnering with states on funding military health care.

One urine screening test for depleted uranium exposure by an independent lab can cost as much as $2,500, said Tedd Weyman, who works for the Uranium Medical Research Center in Toronto. Because his center does not make profits from the tests, it charges $1,100 per test, he said. But if a state has an available mass spectrometer capable of measuring isotopes in parts per billion, he said, it could reduce that cost to $500. Federal urine tests presently performed on veterans are insufficient to do the job, he said.

More than 32,000 veterans of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are said to have illnesses many of whose causes have not been identified.

Dillon is not convinced federal help is on the way. After talking to administrators in state hospitals and veterans advocates, she decided to offer the bill, which, if adopted, would require depleted uranium exposure screening for all state service members returning from the war.

Dillon's friend, Eddie Miles, died in January at age 60. An obituary in the Manhasset Long Island Press said Miles' quest for artificial limbs for the children took him throughout the world raising money, generating medical research and support and, in 1991, establishing a prosthetics clinic at Kien Khleang, outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Michael Bennett, a spokesman for Miles' organization, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, said: "We certainly support any and all efforts to ensure the health and welfare of our troops as they return home. This [legislation would be] a great step toward recognizing the risks of depleted uranium on the battlefield."

Jose Llamas, a spokeswoman for the VA in Washington, said the VA does not screen veterans specifically for DU exposures, but its representatives and literature make the veterans aware of DU's potential health dangers.

Dillon said the DU bill is in part dedicated to Miles. "I don't want this war to be like Vietnam, where public officials waved the flag and no one did anything about it [except the veterans]," she said. "We should learn from our mistakes."

LOAD-DATE: November 22, 2004

SECTION: CONNECTICUT; Pg. B1

LENGTH: 961 words

HEADLINE: REPORT LINKS EXPOSURES TO GULF WAR SYNDROME

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

The federal government has acknowledged that illnesses afflicting many veterans during the 1991 Persian Gulf War resulted from exposure to hazardous substances, but that hasn't helped the ill veterans still waiting for benefits, family members say.

Diane Dulka, 44, whose husband, Joseph, died of pancreatic cancer after the war and whose son, Joseph, was born with a cleft pallet, said Friday severely sick veterans are still being denied benefits. In the past few years, Dulka, of Windsor Locks, has tried, often unsuccessfully, she said, to help hundreds of Gulf War veterans whose requests for medical assistance have been rejected by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

After more than seven years of fighting for her widow's benefits and medical benefits for her son, Dulka obtained the necessary approvals from the VA about five years ago. In the meantime, she became an advocate for other Gulf War veterans, a job she does when she is not working as a paralegal or caring for her 12-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, Lindsay.

For more than a decade, high-level federal health and military officials, sometimes during testimony under oath before Congress, denied U.S. and allied service members were sick from wartime exposures. The hazards included warfare gases, depleted uranium munitions dust, oil well fires, experimental drugs and vaccines and other pollutants. The Pentagon and federal health agencies have spent more than $100 million on inconclusive Gulf War illness investigations and studies.

On Friday, a federal panel of scientific experts and military veterans, called the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, concluded progress in understanding Gulf War illnesses has been hampered by a lack of coordination and availability of data within both the VA and the Defense Department.

The panel said there is significant evidence linking chemical warfare exposures to the so-called Gulf War syndrome, a connection Pentagon officials have repeatedly rejected for many years. The research panel, set up by Congress and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, concluded veterans have long term, multi-symptom illnesses that cannot be explained in terms of stress or psychiatric illness that the Pentagon has long favored.

Asked why the report's findings are being released more than 13 years after the Gulf War ended, Dr. Lea Steele, scientific director for the panel, said, "I don't know. All the answers already have been found. So the reason is not scientific." Steele added that there could be only two reasons for not getting the answers until now, scientific or political, and she would not speculate on the political possibility.

Jonathan Perlin, the VA's acting undersecretary of heath, said, "This report opens up new doors in terms of research, but it doesn't provide a level of proof" for making specific health claims from the VA.

Other committee findings include:

Thousands of veterans have significant nervous system disorders consistent with low-level exposures to deadly warfare gases, including sarin.

Treatments to improve veterans' health are still badly needed.

A host of other wartime exposures, including depleted uranium munitions dust from U.S. and British weapons explosions, may also have contributed to the illnesses.

Significant questions about the health of service members' children and immediate family members and their relationship to soldiers' exposures remain unanswered.

Veterans' health has to be closely monitored for disease patterns and causes of death to determine if they are connected to wartime service

And research on these veterans' illnesses has important implications for other recent wars and the current conflict in Iraq. Some 32,000 service members are said to be sick from hazardous exposures in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The panel estimates the research needed to connect a specific illness to its cause will cost another $15 million.

In the 1991 Gulf War alone, roughly 697,000 U.S. troops served. By last year, 591,000 had left the service and of those more than 26 percent were disabled and receiving medical benefits. Another 11,074 have died, most from illnesses or accidents, after the war. The average age of those service members when they went to war was 36.

Figures from the VA show 182,000 disability claims granted, 27,270 denied and 26,507 still pending, almost 14 years after the end of the war.

Five thousand British service members of the 53,200 who served are reported ill from the first Gulf War with about 2,000 of them awarded war pensions, The Guardian Limited reported. More than 660 have died since the war. Thousands of other allied force soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who became sick from hazardous exposures have also died.

The Defense Department, according to a report issued in June by the Government Accountability Office, underestimated the exposure of chemical warfare agents such as nerve and mustard gas. Defense models of the effects of toxic plumes of chemical agents did not "realistically simulate actual bombings or demolitions," the GAO report said.

Despite these reports, Dulka said, many veterans and service members from other recent wars are not getting the help they need. Today, Dulka said, she is still trying to help a New Jersey widow get death benefits after her husband died of leukemia in 1994, apparently from constant Gulf War missions hauling fuel from depots. The widow gave birth to a child the year her husband died, and already had two toddlers, said Dulka.

It is well documented with the VA that some soldiers repeatedly exposed to petroleum developed leukemia and they have been approved for VA service-connected disabilities, Dulka said.

CORRECTION-DATE: November 20, 2004

CORRECTION:

Dr. Lea Steele, scientific director for the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, clarified a quote published on Page B1 Sunday. She said she did not say all the answers to Gulf War illnesses have already been found. In fact, the report indicates, said Steele, that much additional research is needed to understand the specific causes and mechanisms underlying these conditions.

LOAD-DATE: November 23, 2004

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1895 words

HEADLINE: WEAPONS DUST WORRIES IRAQIS;
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT SEEKS CLEANUP; U.S. DOWNPLAYS RISKS

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

Despite assurances from the U.S. military that depleted uranium from exploded munitions does not pose a significant health threat, Iraq's provisional government is asking the United Nations for help cleaning up the low-level radioactive, metal dust spread across local battlefields by U.S. and British forces during the Persian Gulf wars.

The request comes as the United States continues to defend depleted uranium weaponry -- prized for its tank-piercing and bunker- or cave-smashing ability -- against strong opposition by other countries, scientists and veterans organizations.

Great Britain, a major partner in the coalition now fighting in Iraq, has provided the U.N. with the coordinates where its forces used depleted uranium, also known as DU, in southern Iraq, but the United States has not. Britain and Germany are supplying money to train Iraqis in environmental science. The United Nations plans to survey for DU hot spots from both wars in Iraq and says it needs the coordinates for an effective survey.

Neither British nor U.S. authorities have offered to augment the $4.7 million donated mainly by Japan to the United Nations to evaluate sites of wartime contamination that health experts say threaten the well-being of Iraqi civilians.

In late October, Army Lt. Col. Mark Melanson said a five-year, $6 million Defense Department study of a simulated DU tank explosion shows "the chemical risks of breathing in uranium dust are so low that it won't cause any long-term health risks," even for the tank crew.

Health Concerns Remain

Concern about the health effects of depleted uranium is not limited to overseas countries. The Defense Department's contention that depleted uranium has not been shown to affect health adversely and therefore doesn't need to be cleaned up is contrary to its own rules for handling it. Those rules mirror the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's treatment of depleted uranium as an environmental hazard and danger to public health. Federal regulators have shut down some U.S. nuclear weapons and uranium processing and munitions plants, found to be contaminated by depleted uranium. Billions of dollars are being spent on its cleanup in the United States.

Depleted uranium, or U-238, is a toxic, heavy metal byproduct of uranium enrichment that gives the world uranium suitable for use in nuclear weapons and reactor fuel. It is also used in munitions, ballast for airplanes, tank armor and other products. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years.

In 2002 at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., researchers found that even though the alpha radiation from depleted uranium is relatively low, internalized DU as a metal can induce DNA damage and carcinogenic lesions in the cells that make up bones in the human body.

Depleted uranium was first used widely in combat in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The material in armor-piercing munitions ignites and burns on impact at temperatures of several thousand degrees Celsius. While burning, tiny particles, or dust, of uranium oxide aerosol are created. Wind can carry these considerable distances.

Since 1991, the cancer rates in Iraq have risen sharply in areas where depleted uranium was used, according to Iraqi medical studies reviewed by scientists from other countries. In addition, more than 230,000 of the 697,000 U.S. soldiers who served in that war have filed disability claims for various maladies, the majority of which fall under the broad category of gulf war syndrome.

With many of the causes of these illnesses still eluding researchers, several lawmakers, at the urging of veterans groups, pushed for legislation to study depleted uranium further, to see if there is a connection with gulf war and other wartime illnesses. It called also for cleaning up depleted uranium munitions firings.

In the Republican-controlled Congress, the measures quietly died this fall inside the House Health Subcommittee. Congress and three presidential administrations have either remained silent on the dispute or have dismissed the environmental and health concerns raised.

Council Urges Ban

U.N.-related organizations, citing studies showing more cancers and birth defects among civilians and soldiers in countries where depleted uranium munitions have been used, have pressed for more studies and a ban on their use until the effects are better understood. The Council of Europe, Europe's oldest inter-governmental organization of 46 nations, has called for a ban on the production, use, testing and sale of munitions containing depleted uranium or plutonium.

But U.S. political leaders in Congress and at the White House have refused to acknowledge that depleted uranium might seriously harm soldiers and civilians.

At home, the United States has spent billions of dollars cleaning up depleted uranium -- at former munitions factories, military firing ranges and nuclear fuel production sites. A General Accounting Office report in 2000 put the cost of cleanup at the uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Ky., where DU is processed for use in weapons and nuclear reactors, at $1.3 billion. By December 2003, the cost of cleaning up and closing the plant, estimated to take until 2070, was up to $13 billion

Cleaning up DU contamination in Iraq, experts say, would come with a multibillion-dollar price tag.

Any money spent on cleaning up depleted uranium in Iraq would be in addition to the estimated $225 billion that the United States will be spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress approves the Bush administration's estimated $70 billion in emergency funding request early next year.

Frederick Jones, a spokesman for the National Security Agency, said the United Nations has not asked the Department of Defense or State Department for assistance in cleaning up depleted uranium in Iraq.

The U.N. Environmental Programme's chairman, Pekka Haavisto, however, said his organization has kept the State Department informed of those needs.

Since 1991, the United States and Britain have fired hundreds of tons of DU munitions during four wars -- in the Balkans, Afghanistan and twice in Iraq.

U.N. environmental spokesman Michael Williams said the United States has not supplied coordinates on the sites where DU munitions were fired in Iraq or offered to clean it up. Haavisto added: "U.S. government has the information that if field assessments will be done, exact DU coordinates are needed."

Bill Dies Quietly

Last year, Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington, a U.S. Navy psychiatrist during the Vietnam War, sponsored a bill to pay for a definitive study of the health effect of DU munitions and to clean up dust and fragments after their use. The bill was referred to the House Armed Services and Energy and Commerce committees and then to the committee's Health Subcommittee, where it died.

McDermott's spokesman, Mike DeCesare, said the Republican leadership blocked the bill's passage. But a spokesman for the Health Subcommittee said the committee counsel could find no "aggressive action" by McDermott to get a hearing for it. DeCesare insisted, however, that if McDermott is re-elected, he intends to reintroduce the bill, which was supported by Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays, R-4th District.

"Depleted uranium is a potential health hazard for the Iraqi people and we need to do all we can to make sure that as Iraq is rebuilt, we help the new Iraqi government mitigate any public health threats," Shays said.

The debate over DU has not made much of an impact on the presidential race. President Bush sides with the Pentagon. The Democratic nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts does not have a position on the use of depleted uranium munitions, his communications director, Andy Davis, said recently.

Independent candidate Ralph Nader, a Connecticut native, said DU munitions are environmentally dangerous and should never have been used in the first place.

"The denial and cruel coverup has gone on too long," Nader said. "These soldiers and civilians who suffered [adverse health from exposure to DU] deserve the truth and respectful assistance. The first step is to admit the problem. The second step is to measure the size of the problem and then clean up the environmental toxins. The next step is to stop using depleted uranium munitions."

But the Bush administration, which insists DU poses little environmental risk so cleanup is not needed, takes the Pentagon's advice on such matters.

"If the [Defense Department] indicated to us that the DU rounds or explosions were a cause of concern, and they have not done so, a study or inquiry of their use would be warranted," said Bush's National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones. "Then we would be faced with that decision. The [Defense Department] has not contacted us, nor to the best of my knowledge has any international body contacted us." Jones said.

Kuwait Cleanup

There have been many instances when the military directed depleted uranium cleanups overseas.

For example, a private contractor working for the Department of Defense was paid $3.5 million to cleanup DU-contaminated military equipment and a practice firing range in Kuwait. MKM Engineers Inc. based in Stafford, Texas, performed a limited cleanup in Kuwait from February 2003 to June 2004. The company recovered 22 tons of DU fragments and 75 pieces of non-DU ordnance scrap. The unexploded DU ordnance was destroyed with Kuwaiti assistance. MKM also cleaned military hardware, including tanks, and wrapped them to contain surface contamination before sending them back to the United States.

The U.S. Army Material Command, responsible for the Kuwaiti project, described the work as retrieval of equipment and munitions, not a clean up.

The Department of Defense "does not clean up DU once it leaves a U.S. weapons system such as a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and hits an enemy building, or vehicle," said Melissa Bohan, an Army public affairs official. Army regulations require the clean-up and proper handling of U.S. equipment hit by depleted uranium munitions.

MKM referred to some of its work in Kuwait as a cleanup. And, the Defense Department has a low-level radioactive waste cleanup program, whose goal is "the safe and compliant disposal of low-level radioactive waste," including depleted uranium. It includes the Army Contaminated Equipment Retrograde Team, which supervises cleanup of low-level radioactive contamination of Army equipment worldwide.

Military regulations require immediate medical tests and treatment for any soldiers exposed to dust and fragments from depleted uranium shell explosions. Some nuclear scientists studying the health effects of those inhaling DU believe even a speck of the dust in the lungs or bloodstream can eventually cause cancer or kidney disease in adults or cancers or deformities in babies if even one parent has been exposed.

Marion Fulk, 83, a former nuclear chemical physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who was involved with the Manhattan Project's development of the atomic bomb, said that even nano-size particles of DU in the blood and lungs are a serious destructive force.

Others who support the Defense Department position say only inhalation of large quantities creates serious health problems.

LOAD-DATE: November 1, 2004

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A15

LENGTH: 811 words

HEADLINE: JUDGE HALTS MANDATORY ANTHRAX VACCINATION FOR MILITARY

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer; This story includes a report from The Associated Press.

BODY:

A federal judge in Washingtonon Wednesday ordered the Department of Defense to stop requiring mandatory anthrax vaccination for military personnel because the drug has not been declared safe or effective for military use.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled the anthrax vaccine is either "a drug unapproved for its intended use, or an investigational new drug." Pentagon officials need to obtain the informed consent of each service member inoculated or a presidential waiver to allow its continued use, the judge ruled.

He remanded the Food and Drug Administration's finding that the anthrax vaccine is effective against aerosolized or inhaled anthrax for reconsideration. The vaccine was originally developed to fight anthrax infection absorbed through the skin.

In January, Sullivan had lifted a preliminary injunction against military use of the vaccine after the FDA asserted the vaccine was effective against anthrax spores absorbed through the skin.

Six unidentified members of the military, who said their forced use of the vaccine violated their rights, filed the lawsuit alleging that studies supporting the vaccine's use against inhaled anthrax are statistically invalid. Thousands of service members have voiced concerns about the vaccine's adverse side effects.

"We're ecstatic," said Mark Zaid, the attorney for the service members. "It validates our position of six years that the program was illegal and ill-conceived from day one."

Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the government was reviewing the anthrax decision and has made no decision yet whether to appeal.

Defense Department officials have maintained the vaccine is essential to protect the troops from enemy biological attacks. However, service members, their advocates and vaccine critics say there is no evidence U.S. enemies or terrorists are intent upon using anthrax spores. Those spores that were mailed throughout the U.S. in the letter attacks of 2001 were suspected to have originated from a U.S. laboratory, and not from foreign terrorists.

Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen instituted the mandatory program in 1997 to require all 2.5 million service members to take the vaccine. An estimated 1 million service members have received all or part of the six-shot series and regular booster shots.

"DoD remains convinced that the (vaccination program) complies with all legal requirements and that anthrax vaccine is safe and effective," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote Wednesday in a memo to top Pentagon officials.

But Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., whose House National Security subcommittee held hearings on the issue, said his panel came to the same conclusion as the judge.

"Unless and until the Food and Drug Administration conducts a fully open process to evaluate the current vaccine, the men and women in the armed services must have the same basic rights as every citizen to decide what goes into their bodies," Shays said.

Anthrax develops from a disease in cattle and sheep. Humans can contract the illness from breathing or ingesting the spores or through skin contact with infected animals. The original vaccine, developed by Merck in 1970, was aimed at protecting farmers, sheep wool workers and veterinarians from contracting the disease through skin contact.

Later, the State of Michigan's Health and Human Services Department began developing the drug under Merck's license through an entity known as MBPI. MBPI was criticized repeatedly in FDA inspection reports for unsafe manufacturing processes.

The Defense Department eventually contracted with MBPI to use the vaccine for protection against inhaled anthrax spores in the first Persian Gulf War. In1998, BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Mich., purchased the operation from MBPI.

Since the vaccinations began six years ago, nearly 500 active-duty service members have refused the vaccine and more than 100 have been court-martialed, according to data filed in federal court. About 500 to 1,000 pilots and flight crew members have retired or transferred from the Air National Guard or reserves rather than take the vaccine, government statistics as of early 2004 show.

The FDA, Defense Department and BioPort have denied there are any harmful additives in the vaccine. But FDA warnings, developed from complaints by military vaccine users since 1998, state that adverse reactions are expected in 5 percent to 35 percent of people who take the injection. That compares with the previous expected rate of 0.2 percent, established in the '70s and '80s.

Adverse vaccine reactions include immune disorders, muscle and joint pains, headaches, rashes, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, chills and fever. At least a half-dozen deaths and a number of birth defects have been attributed to use of the vaccine. BioPort officials insist the vaccine is safe and effective.

LOAD-DATE: October 28, 2004

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A21

LENGTH: 626 words

HEADLINE: BILL WOULD EASE RULES ON MILITARY VACCINES

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays is proposing a bill that would exempt service members from the punishments they received for refusing to take the controversial anthrax vaccine whose legality is under challenge in federal court.

"The rationale for administering these vaccines should be based on what we know about the threat," Shays, R-4th District, said Wednesday. "Until we have modern, safer, and proven effective countermeasures [vaccines], administering mandatory vaccinations for an unproven threat is counterproductive."

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal agrees.

"I am strongly supportive of the bill's objectives and general provisions," said Blumenthal who has been critical of the vaccine's use. "The federal government should be held to a much higher standard when it administers these vaccines so that there is stronger assurance that they are safe and effective."

James Turner, a spokesman for the Department of Defense, did not comment on the bill Wednesday, but in the past, he and others in the department have insisted the anthrax vaccine is necessary, safe, effective and federally licensed. The department needs to make the vaccine mandatory to protect all troops in the field from attack, say defense officials.

Since administration of the vaccinations began six years ago, nearly 500 active-duty service members have refused the vaccine and more than 100 of them have been court-martialed, according to data filed in federal court earlier this year. About 500 to 1,000 pilots and flight crew members have retired or transferred from the Air National Guard or reserves rather than take the vaccine, government statistics show. On average, a pilot with nine years of experience cost the government about $6 million to train, according to a federal estimate.

The far-reaching bill would additionally create a national research center to focus on the health of service members deployed overseas.

Shays, the Stamford Republican, has for almost a decade been involved in Congressional investigations of the adverse effects of the anthrax vaccine and the so-called Gulf War illnesses reported by thousands of veterans.

Similar illnesses have been reported by thousands more U.S. service members who fought in Afghanistan and the present war in Iraq. Allied troops from Britain, Canada, Australia, and other nations fighting in those wars have also become ill, reportedly as a result of wartime exposures, as have Iraqi and Afghan civilians and soldiers.

The bill's other proposed requirements include:

Voluntary instead of mandatory administration of the anthrax or smallpox vaccines to service members who agree after they have been informed of the risks of taking those vaccines.

A defense department annual assessment for Congress of the actual biological threat of the future terrorist or enemy use of anthrax spores or the smallpox virus.

An ongoing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' assessment of the adverse health effects of the two vaccines reported by members, and former members, of the armed forces.

A separate VA ongoing assessment of the relationship, if any, between those adverse health effects and the vaccines.

In May, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington, D.C., commenting on a lawsuit brought by service members against the mandatory use of the anthrax vaccine, said he has significant doubt about the vaccine's safety and effectiveness. His final ruling is expected later this fall.

Since President George W. Bush mandated the smallpox vaccination for service members, in late January, the defense department claims the adverse reaction rate has been minimal. Some service members are reluctant to take it because of the risk of adverse effects.

LOAD-DATE: September 30, 2004

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A2

LENGTH: 564 words

HEADLINE: REPORT: CHEMICAL EXPOSURES UNDERESTIMATED;
PENTAGON CRITICIZED OVER GULF WAR ILLNESSES

BYLINE: THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

BODY:

The General Accounting Office strongly criticized the Pentagon for failing to accurately study conditions leading to undiagnosed illnesses suffered by Persian Gulf War veterans.

The Defense Department, according to a report issued Tuesday by the federal watchdog agency, underestimated the exposure of chemical warfare agents such as nerve and mustard gas. Defense models of the effects of toxic plumes of chemical agents did not "realistically simulate actual bombings or demolitions," the GAO report said.

"The GAO report on chemical warfare exposures has driven the final nail in the coffin of the [Defense Department's] minimized assessments of those exposed to low levels of deadly gases like sarin and mustard," said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center.

"The VA will have to presume anyone with symptoms similar to gas exposure receives disability benefits," he said.

The GAO issued a second report critical of the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying it failed to analyze millions of dollars in research on disabling illnesses affecting service members.

"They [the VA and the Pentagon] wasted millions of dollars looking at the mental stress theory and it has been conclusively ruled invalid," Robinson said, referring to the Pentagon's years of insistence that veterans were mentally ill from stress and not physically ill from hazardous exposures.

The critical reports come at a time when thousands of U.S. veterans of the Balkans, Afghanistan and the current Iraq conflict also are seeking expert medical help for illnesses.

Almost 697,000 people served during the height of the 1991 war, and about 581,000 are out of the service. More than half of those retired, and thus eligible, have made health claims, with more than 230,000 granted, according to Veterans Affairs figures as of November 2002, the latest figures available.

During that same time period, 11,074 have died. The average age of those who went to war was 36.

"Low-level exposures to sarin may play a role in the illnesses and syndromes suffered by more than 125,000 American veterans of the first Gulf War," U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, said Tuesday. "For those veterans, and for those fighting in toxic environments today, only an aggressive research agenda will produce the answers needed to protect or cure yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's warriors."

Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi said he agreed with the GAO's conclusions and its recommendations. Already, he said, the VA has started its assessment of the research and is locating "promising new areas for research."

But Klaus O. Schafer, acting deputy defense director for chemical and biological defense, disagreed with the agency.

In a letter, he rejected the GAO's suggestion that the Defense Department not continue to use its toxic gas plume models to determine who is and who is not exposed to wartime gases. He said such "state-of-the-art, validated computer modeling techniques are the most feasible option to determine what might have happened."

On the other hand, Schafer agreed the Defense Department will not do further toxic plume models of the bombings and demolition of chemical bunkers at Khamisiyah, Iraq, during the first Gulf War. Those bombings occurred weeks after war's end and exposed more than 100,000 troops to hazardous gas.

LOAD-DATE: August 25, 2004

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 5261 words

HEADLINE: Winners of 2003 SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards

DATELINE: NORTH HAVEN, Conn.

BODY:

An investigation into the practice of maintaining secret files in the state's courts won The Hartford Courant one of the top prizes in the Society of Professional Journalists' annual Excellence in Journalism Awards on Thursday.

The group's annual First Amendment recognized the Courant for helping to end the practice of making more files secret, SPJ said. "This is a perfect example of how the media can bring about better public policy," judges said in making the award.

The Courant also was presented the Stephen A. Collins Public Service Award for its investigation into Gov. John G. Rowland that has led to state and federal investigations and a legislative impeachment inquiry.

"This is more than just a public service; it is clearly a wonderful example of the watchdog function of the press," wrote the judges.

The Theodore Driscoll Investigative Award went to Louis Porter and Peter Davenport of the Stamford Advocate for their series on the cleanliness of the water in Long Island Sound.

"They did a thorough job of explaining the many issues involved with the waterway," said the judges. "The series looks at issues we would not have considered. "

The awards were judged by journalists from Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota.

The winners: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Roz Chast's 'True Confessions'; Ridgefield Press; Lois Street

(2) A workshop where playwrights hone their skills; Norwalk Citizen-News; Elizabeth Keyser

(H) Featuring Andrea Brucella; Harbor News; Amy J. Barry DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) All propped up; The Day; Kristina Dorsey

(2) Voice of reason; Stamford Advocate; John Breunig

(H) Women, war & peace; News-Times; Eileen Fitzgerald

(H) Tribute to the king; News-Times; Robert Miller DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Talking pictures; New Haven Register; Laura Collins Hughes

(2) 'Friedmans' captures a troubled family; Connecticut Post; Joe Meyers DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Connecticut art trail; Bristol Press/Tattoo; Joe Keo; Katie Jordan REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Blindness is no obstacle for opera singer Laurie Rubin; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Mara Dresner BUSINESS
DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Stay tuned; Journal Inquirer; Harlan J. Levy

(2) Carabettas vs. interenors II; Record-Journal; Hannah C. Glover DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Vanishing act: Retirees benefits take a hit; New Haven Register; Kimberly Johnson

(2) New way to grow oysters pits tradition against innovation; New Haven Register; Luther Turmelle

(H) Therapy comes home: Psychologist brings care to your couch; Connecticut Post; MariAn Gail Brown

(H) His masterpieces are chips off the old block; Connecticut Post; MariAn Gail Brown DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Picketers urge shoppers to buy American; Bristol Press; Jackie Majerus

(2) Additional choices for downtown diners may be missing link to revitalization; New Britain Herald; Bill Larkin REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Cummings comes undone; Connecticut Law Tribune; Scott Brede TELEVISION COMMENTARY

(1) Ganim timeline; News-12 Connecticut; David Burke; Jim Murphy EDITORIAL CARTOON
DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Daily sketch; Bristol Press/Tattoo; Joe Keo FEATURE
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) New Canaan Marine comes home, battle-tested, from Iraq; New Canaan Advertiser; Brooke Arthur

(2) Photos from Judy Friday's book; Lyme Times-Waterford Standard; Sharma Howard

(H) The Central Park jogger reclaims her name; Wallingford Voice; Ronnie Wright DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Polished and pugnacious, lawyer hits big time; The Day; Matthew J. Malone

(2) Somber notes: drawing out a pedophile through music therapy; Stamford Advocate; Nadia Lerner

(H) Scarred by tragedy; Norwich Bulletin; Greg Smith

(H) A bowler gets his legs back; News-Times; Robert Miller DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Survivor lives West Nile ordeal; Connecticut Post; MariAn Gail Brown

(2) Tales from the pub; Hartford Courant; Rachel Gottleib

(H) Unexpected guest registers small complaint; Waterbury Republican-American; Tracie Mauriello

(H) Funny Cide fever rising; Waterbury Republican-American; Debra A. Alekinas DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Whiz kid computes for customers; New Britain Herald; Scott Whipple

(2) Doctor adjusts to life as patient; Greenwich Time; Vesna Jaksic

(H) New York icon; Greenwich Time; Neil Vigdor

REGIONAL NON-DAILY : FEATURE

(1) The night of the Panthers; Hartford Advocate; Alan Bisbort

(2) Lawyers heed call to duty; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey

(H) It's a bird, It's a plane, It's a Golem; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Mara Dresner TELEVISION

(1) Frostbite; WFSB; Eric Budney; Len Besthoff

(2) What's buggin'--house numbers; News-12 Connecticut; Heather Kovar; Lori Golias

(H) What's buggin' you-RAP; News-12 Connecticut; Frank Bruce; Heather Kovar

(H) West Hartford cow parade; WFSB; Scot Haney; Tom Zukowski

(H) Ice breaker; News-12 Connecticut; David Springer; Walter Rella

(H) Dog survives truck dragging; WVIT; Alix Hayes FEATURE PHOTO= COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) One man and the sea; Pictorial Gazette; Kim Tyler

(2) Swinging through summer; Harbor News; Nancy Dionne DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Girl and her prince; Norwich Bulletin; John Shishmanian

(2) Christmas shopper; News-Times; Carol Kaliff

(H) Horse whisper; The Day; Suzanne Ouellette

(H) And it was good; Record-Journal; Dave Zajac DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) On the nose; New Haven Register; Mara Lavitt

(2) It's a grand old flag; New Haven Register; Arnold Gold

(H) In the swing of things; New Haven Register; Aaron Flaum DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Thinking outside the box; Bristol Press; Mike Orazzi

(2) Making a splash; Register-Citizen; Sonja Zinke REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) High kickin' fun; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Norm Cummings

(2) Checking their raffle tickets; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Deborah Rose

(H) Together in Torah worship; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Stacey Dresner FEATURE SERIES
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Culture & the kitchen; NorwalkCitizen News; Elizabeth Keyser

(2) A focus on Guilford's Hispanic community; Shore Line Times; Kristen Daley DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Emerging from the nightmare/Long time coming; The Day; Georgina Gustin

(2) Local military people; News-Times; Brian Saxton; Eileen Fitzgerald; Joe Gould; John Pirro DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Farmington Valley greenway; Hartford Courant; Daniel P. Jones; Don Stacom

(2) Boys to men...Young Sudanese refugees find new lives; New Haven Register; Angela Carter; Marissa Yaremitch

(H) These freedoms; New Haven Register; Jim Shelton

(H) Adventure city; New Haven Register; Chip Malafronte; Jason York; Matt Pepin; Peter Zellen; Scott Cacciola DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) 150 years of service: Bristol Fire Department; Bristol Press; Bob Montgomery; Kristen A. Turick

(2) Crashing in Cambodia; Bristol Press; Joe Keo

(H) Food pantry; Middletown Press; Amy L. Zitka REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Nothing simple about 'plain meaning'; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey GENERAL COLUMN
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Touched by an angel; Waterbury Observer; Chelsea Murray

(2) Sulekh; Main Street News; John Guy LaPlante

(H) Making the impossiblepossible; Branford Review; Jimmy Zanor DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) An appreciation of the gutsy, exotic loveliness of India Blue; Record-Journal; Kathy O'Connell

(2) Is it patriotic to sing with mouth full?; The Day; Steven Slosberg

(H) What's in an unusual name?; The Day; Bethe Dufresne DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Last call for a Borough bartender; Waterbury Republican-American; David Krechevsky

(2) Elder homeowners stagger under tax burden; Connecticut Post; Charles Walsh

(H) Why testify? To prove you're a pervert, cheat, liar, idiot; Waterbury Republican-American; Tracey O'Shaughnessy DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Making small talk in front of the elephant; Greenwich Time; Cameron Martin

(2) Mother-to-be starts journey down a road less-traveled; Middletown Press; Alice Clayton

(H) Overcoming my feelings of failure; Middletown Press; Alice Clayton REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) A laughable report; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo

(2) Passion play; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo

(H) Skakel follies; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo

(H) Homelessness hits close to home; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Deborah Rose

GENERAL REPORTING
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Fire destroys Wilton stores; Wilton Bulletin; Ken Mastro

(2) Soldiers, families, cope with distance; Milford Weekly; Viktoria Sundqvist

(H) Avalon Bay wins Supreme Court case; Wilton Bulletin; Rob Schweitzer DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Through 'the ditch'; The Day; Robert A. Hamilton

(2) A tragedy in many acts; Record-Journal; Martin J. Waters

(H) Energy fund raid under fire; News-Times; Fred Lucas

(H) Crime perception vs. reality; Journal Inquirer; Doreen Guarino; Kimberly Philips

(H) Clearing the air; News-Times; Fred Lucas; Heather Barr DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) With Gulf War illnesses history repeats itself; Hartford Courant; Thomas D. Williams

(2) Waiting an eternity; Hartford Courant; Tina A. Brown

(H) Milford blushes over porn; Hartford Courant; Maryellen Fillo DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Trial exposed Frankel's lifestyle; Greenwich Time; Vesna Jaksic

(2) PCBs in his basement; Bristol Press; Jackie Majerus

(H) Shelter stalls as traffic expert remains anonymous; New Britain Herald; J.C. Reindl REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Greenwich defends its borders; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey

(2) New views emerge in Med-Mal clash; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey

(H) Messianic Jew heads Jewish student group at Miss Porter's; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Stacey Dresner REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Greenwich defends its borders; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey

(2) New views emerge in Med-Mal clash; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey

(H) Messianic Jew heads Jewish student group at Miss Porter's; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Stacey Dresner GENERAL REPORTING-SERIES
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) 'Life or death' for Unilever; Harbor News; Serdar Tumgoren

(2) Election complaints; Hamden Chronicle; Betsy Tranquilli DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Wright Brothers anniversary; News-Times; Eileen Fitzgerald; Eugene Driscoll; Heather Barr; Joe Gould; Robert Miller

(2) Daniel Gordon; The Day; Matthew J. Malone

(H) Deadly fire; Norwich Bulletin; Greg Smith; Jenny Bone Miller DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Ganim trial; Connecticut Post; Staff

(2) As the second anniversary of 9/11 approaches; New Haven Register; Andy Bromage; Ann DeMatteo; Brian McCready; Helen Bennett Harvey; Jack Kramer; Jocelyne Hudson-Brown; Joseph Straw; Manuela DaCosta-Fernandes; Mark Zaretsky; Michael Gannon; Natalie Missakian; Pamela McLoughlin; Tara York; William Kaempffer

(H) Yale strike; New Haven Register; Angela Carter; Elizabeth Benton; Mark Zaretsky; Mary E. O'Leary; Nataline Missakian; Randall Beach

(H) Locals in Israel; Connecticut Post; Linda Conner Lambeck

(H) Farmington Valley greenway; Hartford Courant; Daniel P. Jones; Don Stacom DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) State closures slam city; Bristol Press; Jackie Majerus REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) With Israel, In Israel; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Tracy Sullivan

(2) Outreach to interfaith families grows; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Stacey Dresner HEADLINE
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) The Source; Marisa Nadolny DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) News-Times; Lynn Schnier

(2) Record-Journal; Richard Mason DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) New Haven Register; Jack Golas

(2) Connecticut Post; James Atkinson

(H) Connecticut Post; Jennifer R. Burton DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) NewBritain Herald; Kari Banach

(2) Greenwich Time; Jim Wolfe REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Connecticut Law Tribune; Andy Thibault

(2) Connecticut Law Tribune; Scott Brede IN-DEPTH
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Going to the dogs; Guilford Courier; Pam Johnson

(2) Pushing the envelope; Waterbury Observer; John Murray

(H) Madison's reassessment: A tale of two properties; The Source; Marianne Sullivan

(H) A promise worth keeping; Hamden Chronicle; Betsy Tranquilli DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) The biography of I-95; Stamford Advocate; Jonathan Lucas

(2) Honest man faced threat of ouster; News-Times; Karen Ali

(H) They're funded entirely with private money; Record-Journal; Hannah G. Glover DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Connecticut's Chinatown; Hartford Courant; Kimberly W. May; Penelope Overton

(2) Maryann: A teenager's death spiral; Hartford Courant; Dave Altimari; David Owens; Don Stacom; Jesse Leavenworth

(H) Conquering the clog: The Q Bridge project; Hartford Courant; Stephanie Reitz DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Honoring the family patriarch; Greenwich Time; Neil Vigdor

(2) Tackling teen depression; Bristol Press/Tattoo; Katie Jordan

(H) At Pawlek headquarters: disbelief, then tears; New Britain Herald; Scott Whipple RADIO

(1) Malik Jones aftermath; WQUN; Melinda Tuhus

(2) The Iraq war, the CIA and the battle for public opinion; WPKN; Scott Harris

(H) Freedom vs. security: Civil liberties and the war on terrorism; WPKN; Scott Harris REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Giordano state charges in jeopardy over custody; Connecticut Law Tribune; Ray B. Burton III

(2) Due process for bar applicant overdue?; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey

(H) A rough year for new entrepreneur; Connecticut Law Tribune; Scott Brede TELEVISION

(1) HIPAA Hoopla; News-12 Connecticut; Kristi Faccenda; Marc VanSchaick

(2) Water yo-yo; News-12 Connecticut; David Springer; Mark Sogofsky

(2) Grandma guard; News-12 Connecticut; Allison Haunss; Marc VanSchaick

(H) Getting out in time; WFSB; Brian Elba; Kara Sundlin

(H) Blood working for you; News-12 Connecticut; Gillian Neff; Mark Sogofsky; Walter Rella DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Norwich to Haiti; Norwich Bulletin; Francis McCabe

(2) Soundings; Stamford Advocate; Louis Porter; Peter Davenport

(H) In search of Stamford's middle class; Stamford Advocate; Matthew Strozier DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Secret files; Hartford Courant; Christopher Keating; Dave Altimari; Eric Rich; Jack Dolan; Lynne Tuohy

(2) Out to sea; New Haven Register; Maria Garriga

(H) No child left behind; Hartford Courant; Loretta Waldman; Rachel Gottlieb; Robert A. Frahm DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) School work; Greenwich Time; Ivan Golden REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) The ethics of genetics; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Mara Dresner

(2) Secret files scandal series; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC
DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Over and under; News-Times; Joe Myers DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Hartford In Spires; Hartford Courant; Jim Kuykendall

(2) Details of Rentschler Field; Hartford Courant; Wes Rand REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) New Milford Hospital's 25-year plan; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Joe Myers; Lynda Wellman INVESTIGATIVE= COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Student voting raises questions; Hamden Chronicle; Betsy Tranquilli

(2) Missing woman is found dead: Deceased is subject of embezzlement probe; Wilton Bulletin; Devin Comiskey DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Pension expenses draw fire; Stamford Advocate; Kevin McCallum

(2) Backus psychiatric care; The Day; Kenton Robinson

(H) The truth be told: Rowland directed fuel-cell project; Journal Inquirer; Don Michak

(H) Norwalk ambulances; Stamford Advocate; Ryan Jockers DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Consultant racks up overtime; Connecticut Post; Bill Cummings

(2) Firm may have turned dirt pacts into sweet deal; New Haven Register; Gregory B. Hladky

(H) Renovations may not add up; Hartford Courant; Dave Altimari; Jon Lender

(H) 18, Age of accidents; Hartford Courant; Stephanie Reitz DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Cell phone bills; Greenwich Time; Neil Vigdor REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Liability, sanctions face unadmitted GCs in state; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey TELEVISION

(1) Hartford dog pound investigation; WFSB; Brian Elba; Kara Sundlun

(2) Clothes for the greedy?; News-12 Connecticut; Frank Bruce; Gillian Neff; Walter Rella

(H) Truck trouble; News-12 Connecticut; Dave Grunebaum; Lori Golias; Mark Sogofsky

INVESTIGATIVE-SERIES
DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Inside the FBI; Journal Inquirer; Alex Wood DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Cemetery budget attacked; New Britain Herald; Bill Larkin REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Federal probe strains white collar defense bar; Connecticut Law Tribune; Thomas B. Scheffey LAYOUT NON-PAGE 1
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Pets in need of homes; Main Street News; Jennifer Corthell

(2) Push for the playoffs; West Haven News; Sean Patrick Bowley DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Daybreak--12/5/03; The Day; Jill Blanchette

(2) Daybreak--12/06/03; The Day; Jill Blancette DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) The task of the Times; Hartford Courant; Chris Moore; Tim Reck

(2) A life in limbo; Waterbury Republican-American; R.M. Gray

(H) Athletes of year; New Haven Register; Alyson Bowman; Bill Bernardi DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) GenNext; Greenwich Time; Jim Wolfe

(2) High school football; Greenwich Time; Chris McNamee REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Floral beauty; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Krista Hicks Benson LAYOUT PAGE 1
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Durham Fair scrapbook; Town Times; Sue VanDerzee

(2) Full of surprises; West Haven News; James Flynn DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Two Years after 9-11; News-Times; Joe Myers

(2) Powerless; News-Times; Lynn Schnier

(H) Encore; News-Times; Lynn Schnier DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Blackout; New Haven Register; Ray Hoye

(2) It was carnage; Connecticut Post; Carrie Simonelli

(H) Wiped out by Wall Street; New Haven Register; Staff

(H) Ganim guilty; Connecticut Post; Carrie Simonelli DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Nov. 5, 2003; Register-Citizen; Jason Tomaszewski

(2) March 27, 2003; Bristol Press; Erin R. King REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Which is Connecticut's favorite team?; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; Steve Evans MAGAZINE
SPORTS FEATURE

(1) Out with the boys; Connecticut Magazine; Terese Karmel ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

(1)

Center stage; Connecticut Magazine; Pat Grandjean

(2 Magic and joy at New England Carousel Museum; Lifestyles in Connecticut; Mara Dresner FEATURE

(1) Twin realities; Northeast--Hartford Courant; Kathleen Megan

(2) The scalpel's edge; Connecticut Magazine; Alan Bisbort FEATURE--SERIES

(1) Connecticut icons; Connecticut Magazine; Charles A. Monagan GENERAL COLUMN

(1) The art of dying; Connecticut Magazine; Lary Bloom GENERAL REPORTING

(1) History lesson; Connecticut Magazine; David Howard

(2) Road rage; Connecticut Magazine; David Howard IN-DEPTH

(1) Sandra and her children; Hartford Courant; Susan Campbell

(2) Why Johnny can't read; Connecticut Magazine; Diane Di Costanzo

(H) The high life; Connecticut Magazine; Diane Di Costanzo LAYOUT NON-PAGE 1

(1) Magic and joy at New England Carousel Museum; Lifestyles in Connecticut; Steve Evans LAYOUT PAGE 1

(1) Cover Winter 2003; Lifestyles in Connecticut; Steve Evans NEW PHOTO
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Light in the darkness; Pictorial Gazette; Kim Tyler

(2) One little candle; Town Times; Sue VanDerzee DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) MIA vigil; The Day; Tim Martin

(2) A teary send-off; The Day; Tim Martin

(H) Wall of honor; The Day; Dana Jensen

(H) Headed into action; The Day; Dana Jensen DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Distraught man pulled to safety; Connecticut Post; Ned Gerard

(2) Off to war/Targeting Saddam's regime; New Haven Register; Jeff Holt

(H) An American patriot; New Haven Register; Peter Hvizdak DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Can you believe this?; Bristol Press; Brian Totin

(2) Looking to the future; Bristol Press; Brian Totin OP-ED COLUMN
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) This mandate didn't work; Regional Standard; Harold Shayer

(2) Dirty politics; Branford Review; Dave Phillips; Jimmy Zanor DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Out of sight, but not out of mind; Record-Journal; Ralph Tomaselli

(2) Everyone should be allowed to be happy; Stamford Advocate; Deborah DiSesa Hirsch

(H) Cash: A Whitman for our times; Journal Inquirer; Keith C. Burris DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) A fast ride on a spring evening; New Haven Register; Robert J. Leeney

(2) Love is a gift that can be seized quickly; Connecticut Post; Michael J. Daly

(H) State can control access, not reporting; Connecticut Post; Frank Keegan DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Paying respects; Bristol Press; Steve Collins REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) War on immigrants continues unabated; Connecticut Law Tribune; Andy Thibault

(2) Town hides cost of civil rights violations; Connecticut Law Tribune; Andy Thibault OPINION COLUMN
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) A story our children need to hear; Guilford Courier; Amy J. Barry

(2) In times of trouble...helping kids cope; The Sound; Amy J. Barry

(H) A soldier's story; Waterbury Observer; John Murray DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) NAACP should leave Mason to history; The Day; Bethe Dufresne

(2) Urged to be candid, Rowland still misleads and evades; Journal Inquirer; Chris Powell

(H) No tchicken & Tchaikovsky: That's a tchragedy; Record-Journal; Kathy O'Connell

(H) I'm dreaming of a non-orange Christmas; Record-Journal; Ralph Tomaselli DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) A declaration of war against a newspaper; Connecticut Post; Frank Keegan

(2) America's promise helped end Holocaust; Connecticut Post; Frank Keegan

(H) There are no 'niggers' around here; New Haven Register; Frank Harris III DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Route 72 by '72 but which century?; Bristol Press;Erin R. King

(2) Museum grant indicative of state's misplaced priorities; New Britain Herald; Bill Larkin REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Revenge sentencing; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo

(2) Divestment petitions create strong counter movement on campus; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; N. Richard Greenfield

(H) Our funny felons; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Revenge sentencing; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo

(2) Divestment petitions create strong counter movement on campus; Connecticut Jewish Ledger; N. Richard Greenfield

(H) Our funny felons; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo PHOTO LAYOUT
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) X-treme rolls into Chester; Pictorial Gazette; Kim Tyler

(2) Dog agility training; Main Street News; Kim Tyler DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Norwich to Haiti; Norwich Bulletin; Rory Glasesman

(2) Seaside; Stamford Advocate; Kathleen O'Rourke

(H) Home is where the heart is; The Day; Jennifer Lynn Page

(H) Beautiful; The Day; Suzanne Ouellette DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Guatemala; New Haven Register; Mara Lavitt

(2) Etchings for eternity; Connecticut Post; Christian Abraham REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) Strings & things; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Krista Hicks Benson

(2) Postcards from Bridgewater; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Norm Cummings SINGLE EDITORIAL
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Don't forget Gustave Whitehead; The Bard; Tristvam DeRoma

(2) Where were we?; Town Times; Sue VanDerzee DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) An equal benefit; Record-Journal; Allan S. Church

(2) A call to honest Republicans; The Day; Morgan McGinley

(H) We shut the windows to his cries; Journal Inquirer; Keith C. Burris

(H) Resign, Gov. Rowland; The Day; Morgan McGinley

(H) It takes a parent to raise a child; The Day; Maura J. Casey

(H) Hurting museum to save it; The Day; Maura J. Casey

(H) Curb the corruption; The Day; Morgan McGinley DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Sullivan trial a low point for city police; New Haven Register; Charles Kochakian

(2) Let's name names in corruption probe; Connecticut Post; Steve Winters

(H) Secretary Abraham out of Line; Connecticut Post; Steve Winters DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) A tougher approach to reckless driving; Greenwich Time; David Keyes

(2) When Victoria is anything but secret; Greenwich Time; Michael A. Sweeney

(H) First lady adds to the clatter; Bristol Press; William J. Sarno REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) The victim advocate con; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo

(2) Hard questions; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Art Cummings

(H) Suit from the Mall; Connecticut Law Tribune; Vincent Michael Valvo

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

(1) Football 2003; New Haven Register; Bill Cloutier; Bob Barton; Jim Fuller; Matt Pepin; Mike Pucci; Photo Staff ; Sean Barker; Sean O'Rourke; Vern Williams

(2) UCONN Basketball/Special Preview section; New Haven Register; Chip Malafronte; Dan Nowak; Dave Solomon; Joe Morelli; Karen Tucker; Matt Pepin; Photo Staff ; Scott Cacciola; Sean Barker; Sean O'Rourke

(H) Essex Hometown; Main Street News; Main Street News FEATURE--SERIES

(1) Home; Stamford Advocate; Beth Cooney; Bill Van Ollefen; Camilla A. Herrera; Mary Beth Faller; Nadia Lerner; Ray Hogan; Terri S. Vanech; Valerie Foster IN-DEPTH--SERIES

(1) Submariners at war; The Day; Robert A. Hamilton LAYOUT NON-PAGE 1

(1) Hepburn; Hartford Courant; Melanie Shaffer

(2) Autumn lifestyles; Waterbury Republican-American; R.M. Gray SPORTS COLUMN
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Not one major handed out in this disgrace; West Haven News; Sean Patrick Bowley

(2) Hanging with Harry and the mayor; Thomaston Express; Rick Wilson DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Success against all odds; Record-Journal; Ralph Tomaselli

(2) Huskies' loss not exactly a disaster; News-Times; Brian Koonz

(H) Ballpark of my dreams; Record-Journal; Bryant Carpenter

(H) Diamond thoughts are forever; Record-Journal; Ralph Tomaselli

(H) Bye, bye blackbird; Record-Journal; Bob Morrissette DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Little Leaguers shave heads to help friends; Connecticut Post; Chris Elsberry

(2) Tragedy hits home at Ivy League school (Yale affected by wreck); New Haven Register; Dave Solomon DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Whalers cards still in abundance; Bristol Press; Paul Angilly COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) A success story; New Canaan Advertiser; Dave Stewart

(2) American Legion baseball preview; Milford Weekly; Elm City Sports Department

(H) Lance and I: Doing the tour; The Source; Rita Christopher DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Fielding responsibility; Norwich Bulletin; Bill Barnhart

(2) Home team; Journal Inquirer; Phil Chardis

(H) Ready to shine; Stamford Advocate; Matt Breslow

(H) Fans slowly warm to Sun; Norwich Bulletin; Brian Lyman DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) The total package; New Haven Register; Scott Cacciola

(2) Journey 'round the world teaches value of life; Connecticut Post; MariAn Gail Brown

(H) Will and grace; Connecticut Post; David Agostino

(H) Bosox backers certain glory days are here; Connecticut Post; MariAn Gail Brown DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) From Brunswick to the big time; Greenwich Time; Chris McNamee

(2) Squashing the competition; Greenwich Time; David Fierro

(H) Fowler knows all about life's ups-and-downs; Bristol Press; Paul Angilly REGIONAL NON-DAILY

(1) New Milford High boys basketball history; Greater New Milford Spectrum; Norm Cummings SPORTS NEWS
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) Hip-hip, hooray!; The Bulletin; Sean Patrick Bowley

(2) Rams top Wilton, 2-1, to win state title; New Canaan Advertiser; Dave Stewart DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Grappling with gender; Record-Journal; Bryant Carpenter

(2) US Open tennis final; Stamford Advocate; Rich DePreta

(H) VA Tech beats up UCONN; News-Times; Brian Koonz DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Pressure cookingChallenge ongoing for Conlon; New Haven Register; Scott Cacciola

(2) NCAA offenses alleged; Connecticut Post; Mike Puma DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Greenwich wins 26th open championship; Greenwich Time; David Fierro

(2) Husky heaven; Greenwich Time; Jesse Quinlan SPORTS PHOTO
COMMUNITY NON-DAILY

(1) We are the champions; New Canaan Advertiser; Dave Stewart

(2) The stars come out; New Canaan Advertiser; Dave Stewart DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) UCONN pile; The Day; Tim Cook

(2) Soccer loss; News-Times; Silas Crews

(H) Lobo on ice; The Day; Tim Martin

(H) Football fog; News-Times; Silas Crews DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) 138th Yale-Harvard Regatta; New Haven Register; Aaron Flaum

(2) Opening gifts; New Haven Register; Peter Hvizdak DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Class LL girls soccer tournament; Bristol Press; Brian Totin

(2) Out at home; Bristol Press; Mike Orazzi SPORTS REPORTING= TELEVISION

(1) Yoga fore golf; News-12 Connecticut; Gillian Neff; Edward Coats III

(2) Shaun Feldeisen: UCONN's own 'Rudy'; WFSB; Abner Franco; John Holt; Mike Fraboni SPOT NEWS
DAILY NEWSPAPER 25,000-50,000

(1) Jet slams into Groton homes; The Day; Dan Pearson; David Collins; Georgina Gustin; Gladys Alcedo; Joe Wojtas; Matt Malone

(2) Borough inferno; The Day; Andrew Ryan; Charles Potter; Dan Pearson; Joe Wojtas

(H) USS Providence joins the fray; The Day; Robert A. Hamilton

(H) Powerless; News-Times; Bob Miller; Chipp Reid; David Levine; Eileen Fitzgerald; Fred Levine; Joe Gould; Karen Ali; Mark Langlois; Michele Biaso

(H) For Westerly man, a night of horror; The Day; Andrew Ryan; Eileen McNamara; Katie Melone DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOVE 50,000

(1) Families: Piled into buses, they awaited the list of victims; Hartford Courant; Matt Burgard

(2) I'm on my own now; Hartford Courant; Jesse Hamilton

(H) Rally turns ugly; New Haven Register; Kimberly Johnson; Rebecca Baker Erwin

(H) Escape: There was no time to think, only to act; Hartford Courant; Josh Kovner DAILY NEWSPAPER BELOW 25,000

(1) Families, Marines celebrate return; New Britain Herald; J.C. Reindl

(2) Fleet Bank robbed; Middletown Press; Amy L. Zitka

(H) Escape from custody; Middletown Press; Amy L. Zitka

(H) Byram man kills wife, self; Greenwich Time; Neil Vigdor RADIO

(1) Bridgeport mayor guilty; Connecticut Radio Network; Steve Kalb

(2) Waterbury mayor guilty; Connecticut Radio Network; Steve Kalb TELEVISION

(1) Hartford fire; WFSB; Len Besthoff; Peter McCue

(2) Monkey loose; News-12 Connecticut; Frank Bruce; Jeff Mangels; Lori Bordonaro

(H) Yale kids; News-12 Connecticut; David Burke; David Springer TELEVISION

(1) Frostbite; Tanker follow-up; Early snow; WFSB; Eric J. Budney

(2) Video composite; News-12 Connecticut; Walter Rella

(2) Composit video; News-12 Connecticut; Mark Sogofsky

FIRST AMENDMENT

Secret files; Hartford Courant; Christopher Keating; Dave Altimari; Eric Rich; Jack Dolan; Lynne Tuohy

THEODORE DRISCOLL

Soundings; Stamford Advocate; Louis Porter; Peter Davenport

STEPHEN A. COLLINS

Governor John G. Rowland; Hartford Courant; Bill Leukhardt; Christopher Keating; Dave Altimari; David Lightman; Edmund H. Mahoney; Jesse Leavenworth; Jon Lender; Josh Kovner; Roselyn Tantraphol; William Weir

LOAD-DATE: May 28, 2004