Re: Vaccine cocktail tied to Gulf illness-London

[Guest guest]

This <sigh> is NOT new 'news'. It was posted to the GWVM

Gulf War net immediately after the article was aired in the

newspaper a couple of years ago.

ALL people from my unit were given the anthrax-pertussis

combination, it was marked clearly on my shot record (now

missing from my archived service records) as that.

Pertussis was used as an adjuvant to hasten the effects of

a vaccine which was designed at the time (probably the same

now, I don't know) to be a half a dozen shots over a six

month period (confirmed by my family doctor when I

questioned him about it). A large percentage of the

deploying forces moved through the Aldershot Garrison and

had their shots at Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot

(southern England), where my unit were done, before being

shipped out. I would imagine that the same anthrax-

pertussis combination was given to all of us for the same

reason.

I don't think it was that alone which has made Gulf War

veterans ill. It is the combination of many shots, burning

oil wells, possible chemical and DU exposures (depending on

where you were in the region), pesticides etc etc.

It would be easy to hang your hat on one cause, but it is

not going to explain the whole issue.

The MOD may well have made a few sporadic confessions over

the last eight years or so, but the British veterans still

have no answers, the only research being done on our

illnesses is psychologically based and when it comes to

information we have only closed doors and tight lips from

the government. Trust me, I know, I AM a British veteran.

Regards

Anne

Vaccine cocktail tied to Gulf illness-

London

From: " Debi Eubanks " <debieubanks@...>

Had not seen this info before...+ACI-pertussis-anthrax

combination+ACI-

Copyright +AKk- 1997 The Seattle Times Company

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 1997

Vaccine cocktail tied to Gulf illness

by Seely

Associated Press

LONDON - In a damning report, the Ministry of Defense said

yesterday that

its own officials failed to deal with health warnings about

a vaccine taken

by British troops during the Gulf War.

Defense Minister Reid told Parliament that his

ministry did not act on

advice that a combination of vaccines could have negative

side effects

because the warning sent by fax in December 1990 was not

logged for 10 days

and was never seen by senior officials.

Reid said the Health Ministry's warning was overlooked

because of +ACI-the

extremely busy period leading up to the Gulf War.+ACI-

Reid ordered an inquiry in July after reports alleged that

the vaccination

program to protect soldiers against biological and chemical

weapons went

ahead despite the Health Ministry warnings.

Since returning from the Middle East, thousands of U.S. and

British soldiers

have complained of chronic fatigue, respiratory problems,

weight and memory

loss and depression. The illnesses have been grouped

together under the name

Gulf War Syndrome.

Among the causes being investigated by the British and U.S.

governments,

which have not admitted the illness exists, are exposure to

chemical and

biological poisons, pesticides, vaccines, fumes from oil-

well fires and

effects of wartime stress.

A report by a U.S. congressional committee, scheduled to be

released this

week, says +ACI-a variety of toxic agents in the Gulf

War,+ACI- including Iraqi

chemical weapons and pesticides, were probably responsible

for the veterans'

health problems.

The British Health Ministry's concerns centered around

plans to use the

whooping-cough vaccine, pertussis, as an accelerator with

anthrax vaccine to

dramatically shorten the eight months that anthrax vaccines

usually take to

work.

The Health Ministry told the Defense Department that

although pertussis had

been declared safe on children, it had not been approved

for adult use. The

ministry also warned that when pertussis was given to

laboratory animals

with other vaccines, the animals lost weight.

Reid also admitted that British troops had taken an anti-

plague vaccine

which, although licensed in the United States and Canada,

had not been

licensed in Britain. He said troops also used NAPS anti-

chemical-warfare

tablets, which were not licensed for use in Britain until

1993.

About 51,000 British troops served in the Gulf War, and up

to 4,000 veterans

and members of their families are ill.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said military planners faced a

stark choice:

Give soldiers unlicensed vaccines in complex combinations

or leave them

exposed to Iraqi biological and chemical weapons.

The spokesman said he could not say how many men had been

given the

pertussis-anthrax combination.

American troops took a different combination of vaccines,

although they

registered similar symptoms after the war, he noted.

+ACI-If that was source (of Gulf War illness), you would

expect Americans

wouldn't have the same symptoms,+ACI- the spokesman said.

Veterans groups welcomed the admission but said they wanted

more.

+ACI-What we would like to see is a full public inquiry so

that we can get to

the bottom of the problems that we are suffering from,+ACI-

said Tony Flint from

Britain's National Gulf Veterans and Families Association.

Information from

Reuters is included in this report.