MoD RE****T ADMITS 'TRIALS' OF VACCINE
Mar 7 2004
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/page.cfm?objectid=14024018&method=full&siteid=106694
By Susie Boniface
THE Government experimented on British troops without their knowledge
and injected them with vaccines which had not been fully tested, a
leaked Ministry of Defence re****t reveals.
Defence chiefs gave the order for the unproved jabs to be given to our
armed forces during both Gulf Wars.
The MoD document, seen by the Sunday Mirror, admits that the members
of 205 General Hospital were used in a plague "trial" in 1991. And
last year phials of anthrax vaccine thrown off a war****p by angry
sailors bound for the Gulf were found to contain an illegal agent
which causes nerve and tissue damage.
The "guinea pig" tests are now being linked to Gulf War Syndrome, a
catalogue of chronic illnesses affecting veterans. And as we revealed
last week, the legacy of the illegal research is serious damage to the
unborn children of servicemen and women.
Professor Malcolm Hooper, an expert in the syndrome who sits on the
MoD vaccine panel, said: "I believe they have been experimenting with
our troops, but the MoD refuses to talk about it." For Tony Flint, a
veteran of the first Gulf conflict, what happened to him as a private
in 205 General Hospital is clear. "I was a guinea pig, pure and
simple. They gave me and my comrades a vaccine with no idea what it
would do," he said. "I became ill straight away and after I came home
I was a changed man. I now have Epstein-Barr virus, asthma, chronic
fatigue, muscle-wasting and post-traumatic stress. I get flu every few
weeks."
He had injections for cholera, tetanus, typhoid, hepatitis B, polio,
yellow fever, meningitis and anthrax before being sent to the war
zone. In January 1991, just days before hostilities began, he was
given another jab for anthrax and one for plague.
The re****t by the MoD's Gulf Veterans Illnesses Unit says senior
officers "were concerned about the plague vaccine". It adds:
"Headquarters British Armed Forces Middle East decided a trial should
be conducted at 205 General Hospital to assess how many personnel
would suffer severe reactions as a result of plague immunisation
before other units in theatre began the administration of plague
vaccine."
Mr Flint, 56, of Tottenham, North London, was never warned of this.
"They gave it to us first because they wanted to see what it would
do," he said. "But if they did not have a clear idea how the body
would respond to the vaccine, they should never have used it."
Since returning home Mr Flint has also tested positive for traces of a
harmful chemical called squalene - found in large amounts in a batch
of anthrax thrown off the war****p HMS Ocean and washed ashore.
It is believed to have been used in the Gulf as a booster to make
patients absorb the anthrax vaccine quickly.
It has never been licensed for use in the UK or US, and its use is
illegal.
Prof Hooper said: "Squalene had been used to improve AIDS vaccines but
was such an aggressive substance it was found to do all kinds of
damage.
"Even the smallest traces are enough to trigger a reaction in the
body's immune system, and Gulf War Syndrome is entirely linked to
faults of the immune system."
Hundreds of US war veterans have tested positive for squalene, but the
MoD refuses to test British servicemen and women. It will not
recognise Gulf War Syndrome and refuses to reveal what is in the
vaccines for national security reasons.
An MoD spokesman said yesterday: "There is no clinical evidence to
suggest anyone has suffered long-term ill effects as a result of the
UK-licensed anthrax vaccine." He denied the use of squalene and
refused to comment on plague vaccine.
__________________
MP CALLS FOR HOON ANSWERS
DEMANDS for a full inquiry into the birth defects of Gulf War babies
will be heard in the House of Commons tomorrow.
The move comes in the wake of our revelation last week that deaths,
still-births, miscarriages and birth defects among Army babies are
being blamed on anthrax jabs given to soldiers sent to Iraq.
In one unit - 33 Field Hospital - not one child conceived around the
time of last year's Gulf War was born healthy.
Campaigning Lib Dem MP Paul Tyler will call on Defence Secretary Geoff
Hoon to order a scientific probe into why so many families have been
blighted.
"We need to find out exactly what has happened. This number of
pregnancies don't just go wrong for no reason," he said.
"Until a full study is carried out these families won't get the
answers they need.
"Geoff Hoon should make a statement to the House on what his
department is doing to solve the mystery of what has happened to the
babies of 33 Field Hospital."
__________________
WHY DID MY SEVEN-HOUR-OLD BABY DIE?
WHEN baby Catherine Jane was born, there should have been rejoicing.
Instead, her parents sobbed as their longed-for daughter was
delivered.
She died seven-and-a-half hours later, severely deformed - another
victim of the Gulf War curse.
"I had known all along something was wrong," said mum Vicky Warriner,
36. "And I knew it was because of the war."
Catherine Jane's father, Mark Warriner, served in the 1991 Gulf War as
a driver in the Royal Corps of Trans****t. They had a healthy baby son,
James, in 1996.
But trouble began as Vicky and Mark tried to expand their family. She
miscarried at nine weeks in 1997 and at 11 weeks a year later.
"When Mark was in the Gulf, he was told to roll his sleeves up and
join a queue of soldiers walkingthrough a tent in the middle of the
desert. As they filed past they had jab after jab in their arms," said
Vicky. "He was never told some of the jabs were experimental."
When she became pregnant again in 1998 the couple hoped their run of
bad luck was over, but a late scan found the baby's body had stopped
developing at 27 weeks. "The nurse looked at the screen - her face
just fell," said Vicky. "I started to cry. She was nurses took it in
turns to go into the corner and cry. There was nothing they could do
for her. She died at 10.30pm. We buried her in February 1999 and my
husband left me in the July. He could not cope with the loss of
Catherine.
"He's married again now, but is too worried about what will happen to
have any more children."
|
