Gulfwar Syndrome, Symptoms and Disorders

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, between 175,000, and 210,000, or about 25 percent of the living veterans of the 1991 Gulf War are currently afflicted by a debilitating, chronic, multi-symptom, multi-system disease commonly known as Gulf War Illness or Gulf War Syndrome. The Environmental Illness Resource tells us that more than 110,000 cases had been reported by 1999, according to official government sources. There is even a report relating to military personnel in Kansas developing flu-like symptoms and chemical sensitivities after handling archived documents returned from the Gulf. In the UK, veterans of the 2003 conflict began reporting symptoms identical to those reported by the first war shortly after they returned from duty. Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least 50 years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments, and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances. Materials included mustard and nerve gas, ionizing radiation, psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs used during the Gulf War.

Also See: Consumer Alert! Raising Public Awareness of Modern Day Hazards

Gulf War Syndrome and Illnesses

Gulf War Syndrome (GWS), which is also known as "Desert Storm Diseases" or simply "Gulf War Veterans Illnesses", is a collection of symptoms reported by veterans (and civilians like press and government employees) of the first Gulf war since August 1990.

Veterans from every country that made up the Coalition forces have been affected; in the US alone more than 110,000 cases had been reported by 1999, according to official government sources.

There is even a report relating to military personnel in Kansas developing flu-like symptoms and chemical sensitivities after handling archived documents returned from the Gulf. In the UK, veterans of the 2003 conflict began reporting symptoms, identical to those reported by the first war, shortly after they returned from duty. The symptoms reported by veterans include: Gulf War Illness - Gulf War Syndrome (GWS)

The Anthrax Immunization Connection

I received my first Anthrax shot (lot # 36) on 20 February 1998. I felt a pain in my upper left arm, starting immediately following the injection, confined to the injection site. The day following this immunization, I felt sick, as if a cold were starting. I felt fatigued, lightheaded, and had a headache. A few days later, I developed a cyst on my scalp, which seemed almost insignificant at first, but gradually increased in size. It became noticeable every 2 weeks when getting a hair cut because of the soreness. At the same time a similar lesion developed in the corner of my right eye. At the time, I didn''t think much of it and thought they would just go away.

I received my second Anthrax shot (lot # 38) on 15 March 1999, over one year later, even though shot protocol is two weeks between shots 1, 2, and 3. Again I felt immediate pain at the injection site. On the day after the injection, I felt like a cold was coming on with coughing, sneezing, running nose, headache, fatigue, and lightheadedness. Also the cysts that I had originally developed from the first anthrax shot multiplied and increased in size.

I received my third Anthrax shot (lot # 38) on 29 March 1999. Again I felt immediate pain at the injection site, but this time instead of feeling like a cold was starting, I just felt very tired. I was so tired that I slept about 16 hours a day for two weeks. I had no energy. The only thing I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep. By this time I had 9 cysts on my scalp, the largest one being the size of a half dollar, and 1 at the corner of my right eye. The pain I was experiencing from these cysts was unreal. If I were to rate it on a scale of 1 through 10, it would definitely have been a 10. Every time I bumped my head or got a hair cut, it would bring me to tears.

The pain got so bad that I finally went to the base hospital in July 1999 and made an appointment to have the cysts surgically removed. I feared going to the hospital in the first place because I was afraid to find out that something was seriously wrong with me, that these could possibly be tumors. After I had the cysts removed, they were sent for biopsy and were found to be non-cancerous. I didn't think to ask if they were tested for Anthrax, because I didn't relate these symptoms to the Anthrax shot until I received my fourth shot.

I received my fourth Anthrax shot (lot # 24) on 22 September 1999. This time the pain at the injection site was unbearable. While leaving the hospital, I kept my arm at my side because it hurt to move it. I had to sit down a few times because it was hard to catch my breath from the pain. The following day, I was sick. I was fatigued, lightheaded, sneezing, disoriented, and had a headache. I also started developing a terrible cough that would cause me to gag when I was done and continued until December, when I deployed to Al Jaber, Kuwait and my condition worsened.

Once there, I started to lose weight rapidly. Some days I was losing anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds a day. I lost a total of 50 pounds within the next three months. My energy was declining rapidly, the light headedness increased to the point of feeling like I was going to pass out. I had night sweats, chills, ear ringing, tremors, and severe fatigue. My sleep alternated from excessive sleeping one week to insomnia the next week. I went to the hospital and spoke with a doctor who was also from Hill Air Force Base. He ordered several tests for me at Camp Doha, an Army base nearby, and told me the results were ""normal"" and my concerns were dismissed.

Related: Additional Anthrax Vaccine Congressional Testimonies

Anthrax vaccination and the military

Experimental vaccines comprise another factor in the Gulf War veterans' health picture. The troops immunized for the Gulf fall into two major categories:

The first consists of soldiers who did not necessarily go into the theater of operations, but received a blanket of immunizations required for worldwide status.

The second category of troops consists of soldiers who actually went to the Gulf and were given additional inoculations upon arrival. These inoculations often included experimental vaccines, such as those for anthrax and botulinum, that were not approved for use by the FDA and have since proven to cause potentially dangerous side effects. Soldiers who were given these experimental vaccines have reported suffering from a variety of neurological problems and aberrant bleeding from all parts of their body. Because of these vaccines' experimental nature, many questions have arisen as to why our government dispensed them.

"For both anthrax and smallpox, the side effects of the vaccines are serious enough that widespread vaccination could cause more damage than the diseases themselves" "Fear of the vaccine is perhaps greater than fear of anthrax. As many as 400 members of the U.S. military have been court-martialed or have resigned rather than submit to the vaccination because of the perceived risks. Some physicians share their misgivings." "All told, vaccinating all Americans against smallpox could cause 3,000 severe adverse reactions and a much larger number of lesser problems, according to Thomas Monath, an executive at British vaccine manufacturer Acambis" Los Angeles Times October 29, 2001

U.S. Army's tradition of medical experimentation

Since the 1930s, high-ranking officers and civilian officials have at times foresworn the use of military personnel as human guinea pigs; at other times soldiers have been the most likely candidates to help answer scientific questions related to national security. Vaccine A tells a story of betrayal, of medical arrogance flourishing in the absence of public accountability, shielded by an unquestioning deference to national security. Investigative journalist Gary Matsumoto reveals that thousands of young men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces were subjected to medical experiments that were conducted without their knowledge or consent-and that have put them in grave danger. Not only have military scientists performed unethical experiments on U.S. and British soldiers; not only are they refusing to admit either the experiments or the effects they caused; not only are they continuing to use a deadly substance in experimental vaccines-this substance is being developed for use in vaccines intended for mass immunization around the globe. In an alarming narrative, Vaccine A recounts this scientific tragedy-from the U.S. Army's tradition of medical experimentation on soldiers through to the present, where the consequences of these experimental vaccines, if administered to civilians, will be unimaginably devastating.

Sick Veterans Sue KBR Over Iraq and Afghanistan Burn Pits

KBR burned biohazard materials including human corpses, medical supplies, paints, solvents, asbestos, pesticides, animal carcasses, tires, lithium batteries, Styrofoam, wood, rubber, medical waste, large amounts of plastics, and even entire trucks. A lawsuit was filed alleging that KBR, Inc.endangered the health and safety of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by exposing them to huge quantities of toxic dust, fumes and other air pollutants by burning unsorted waste in vast open-air pits without any safety controls.

Coalition troops were constantly exposed to chemicals (and vaccines) whose use is considered safe by people and organizations that do not know a safe substance from a dangerous one. The retreating Iraqi army ignited approximately 600 oil wells in February 1991, which burned for about nine months. These fires produced massive amounts of thick smoke that sometimes drifted to ground level causing increased exposure to ground troops. When this occurred the air pollution was far greater than would be experienced in the average traffic congested western city.

Questionnaires filled in by US troops indicated higher rates of eye and upper respiratory tract irritation, shortness of breath, cough, rashes, and fatigue than unexposed troops. The smoke from oil well fires contained a cocktail of chemicals, notably benzene, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide as well as quantities of particulate matter. Chemical exposure symptoms feel like a flu. Professor I.M. Trakhtenberg of Russia gives us a big hint when he says, “Chronic mercury exposure is also a threat to our health and makes us especially vulnerable to flu like infections.

Lethal and toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide, benzene, and methalene chloride are floating in the air over the Gulf Of Mexico oil spill. There’s a very high probability that residents exposed to the air surrounding the spill will suffer a direct hit to their health status such as debilitating diseases or various birth deformities and cancer as a long-term result. But first what these people will see is flu-like symptoms, which, like in the flu, are symptoms of intolerable amounts of foreign toxins, chemicals and heavy metals in the tissues dumping into the bloodstream.

The symptoms reported by veterans include:

• Fatigue
• Persistent Headaches
• Muscle Aches/Pains
• Neurological Symptoms, e.g. tingling and numbness in limbs
• Cognitive Dysfunction – short-term memory loss, poor concentration, inability to take in information
• Mood and Sleep Disturbances – Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia
• Dermatological Symptoms – Skin Rashes, Unusual Hair Loss
• Respiratory Symptoms – Persistent Coughing, Bronchitis, Asthma
• Chemical Sensitivities
• Gastrointestinal Symptoms – Diarrhea, Constipation, Nausea, Bloating
• Cardiovascular Symptoms
• Menstrual Symptoms

These symptoms are similar to those attributed to chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities and other environmental illnesses. This similarity hasn’t gone unnoticed, which is why many people, including healthcare professionals and researchers, are coming to the conclusion that all these illnesses share common causes and etiologies. Gulf War vets have developed ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, at twice the rate of vets who did not serve in the Gulf War. Some veterans returned seemingly well, yet developed severe illnesses months or years later. The lag time between cause and effect makes understanding these illnesses more difficult.

Gassed in the Gulf: The Inside Story of the Pentagon-CIA Cover-up of Gulf War Syndrome

Unearthing hundreds of classified documents detailing the locations of Iraqi chemical munitions destroyed by American forces after the Gulf War, Eddington argues that tens of thousands of American troops had been exposed to deadly chemical agents. Those chemicals may be at least partly responsible for the chronic illnesses suffered by more than 100,000 Desert Storm veterans... and for the birth defects among so many of their postwar children. An intensely personal account of the struggle of two dedicated public servants to expose one of the largest government cover-ups in modern times.

Report to Congress: Panel Confirms Vaccine, Pesticides Caused Gulf War Syndrome

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 2008 -- Los Angeles Times - The Gulf War illness was caused by pyridostigmine bromide pills taken by U.S. troops to neutralize the effects of nerve gas attacks and by exposure to neurotoxic insecticides, according to a VA advisory panel. The panel said it could not rule out a link between the illness and exposure to oil well fires and multiple vaccinations. But it could find no evidence linking it to depleted uranium shells, anthrax vaccine, and infectious diseases.The committee was established and funded by congressional mandate. It delivered the report today to VA Secretary James Peake.

The many illnesses, symptoms and disorders of GWS: Autoimmune Haemolytic Anaemia (AIHA) or Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency (CFS and CFID), and more.

Russell L. Blaylock MD Neurosurgeon - "Most have at least heard about the controversy surrounding possible harmful effects of some of the vaccines. What is less well known is that even greater dangers exist than are being conveyed to the general public. Much of this information is buried inhighly technical scientific journals beyond the reach and understanding of the average person. Of special concern is the relationship of vaccine policy, autism and the Gulf War Syndrome. I shall use the Gulf War Syndrome as an example of a vaccine policy gone berserk, while including discussions of other dangers as well."

Natural Healing Modalities for Gulf War Syndrome and Illnesses

• Detoxification - An environmental health specialist at Stirling University in Scotland, Baillie-Hamilton details how toxins may be linked to dozens of serious health problems, including immune system diseases, neurological disorders, digestive disorders, hormonal imbalances, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, hyper-sensitivity, obesity, musculoskeletal disorders and childhood health problems.
• Ignite Your Body's Internal Healing Force - Elimination of the symptom is NOT the same as elimination of the disease. The fastest way to restore wellness is to stop putting into the body the things that have caused the physical problem to develop in the first place, and then give the body the nutrients it needs to repair and rebuild itself. The holistic approach treats the whole person, ignites the body's internal healing force and stimulates the body's natural abilities to heal itself.

Gary Null, Ph.D. - "Part of the problem in defining what has been called Gulf War syndrome is that the symptoms are so varied. The most common is chronic fatigue, which affects over half of syndrome sufferers. Lupus and scleroderma are other autoimmune conditions that have manifested. Other conditions include lymphoma, cardiac ailments, memory loss, leukoencephalopathy, and neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. Severe aches and joint pains are common, and other frequently reported symptoms are dizziness, nausea, stomach pains, light sensitivity, intense anxiety, breathing difficulty, muscle spasms, diarrhea, blurred vision, inexplicable skin rashes, hives, bleeding gums, eye redness, night sweats, and acute migraine-like headaches. Sexual and urination disorders plague numerous victims, while up to 25 percent of syndrome patients have experienced hair loss, and 25 percent have acquired multiple chemical sensitivities, which means they have become allergic to a wide variety of chemical substances and can consequently have severe reactions to even the most common household items.

Mushrooming Depleted Uranium Scandal

Writing in Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter No. 169, Arthur N. Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, stated: “This malady (from uranium munitions), that thousands of our military have suffered and died from, has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is now being revealed.” He added, “Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability. This astounding number of ‘Disabled Vets’ means that a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent medical problems!” The disability rate for the wars of the last century was 5 percent; it was higher, 10 percent, in Viet Nam."

Reports of rising cases of cancer in Iraqis is being blamed on radiation left over from depleted uranium used in U.S. missiles which were dropped on Iraq. Iraq's doctors are requesting for the U.N. and World Health Organization to investigate the areas in Iraq which are believed to be contaminated with radiation.

“The long-term effects have revealed that DU (uranium oxide) is a virtual death sentence,” stated Berklau. “Marion Fulk, a nuclear physical chemist, who retired from the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, and was also involved with the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid malignancies in the soldiers (from the 2003 Iraq War) as ‘spectacular … and a matter of concern!’” When asked if the main purpose of using DU was for "destroying things and killing people,” Fulk was more specific: “I would say it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people!”

Environmental consequences of a new generation of radioactive weapons, Depleted Uranium

The drastic health and environmental consequences of a new generation of radioactive weapons, Depleted Uranium (DU), currently being used in U.S.-waged wars are discussed in these essays. This "new kind of nuclear war" is examined alongside the effects on Vietnam and Gulf war veterans and the indigenous people on whose land these weapons are being tested. Among the issues covered are the collaborative military and media cover-up of DU, the government's denial of DU's toxic effects, uranium development on Native American land, nuclear testing on the Marshall Islands, and radioactive residue in the Middle East. Contributors include Ramsey Clark, Pat Broudy, and Helen Caldicott. Official government documents on DU and its effects and charts illustrating where DU is tested and stored in the United States are included for further examination. In May, 1997, the International Action Center published a book of essays and lectures on depleted uranium: the contamination of the planet by the United States military. In addition to exposing the deadly duplicity of the Department of Defense, the book documents the genocide of Native Americans and Iraqis by military radiation, the connection between depleted uranium and Gulf War Syndrome, the underestimated dangers from low-level radiation, the legal ramifications of DU Production and Use, and the growing movement against DU

How to Detox Your Body of Depleted Uranium Residues, the Effects of Radiation, and Radioactive Contamination
After any sort of radioactive exposure you want to be eating seaweeds and blue green algae along with almost any type of commercial heavy metal chelating formula to bind radioactive particles and help escort them out of the body. Whether you're worried about depleted uranium, plutonium or other isotopes, this is the wise thing to do which can possibly help, and certainly won't hurt.

Radiation Protection:

• Wheatgrass and radiation Tests have been made which point to a chlorophyll (wheatgrass) rich diet affecting the survival of experimental animals after lethal doses of radiation.* In 1950, Lourau and Lartigue reported that cabbage supplement (chlorophyll) increases the resistance of guinea pigs to radiation.
• Sea Vegetables"There is no family of foods more protective against radiation and environmental pollutants than sea vegetables that can prevent assimilation of different radionuclitides, heavy metals such as cadmium, and other environmental toxins." Steven Schecter, N.D
• Calcium Bentonite Clay "Russian scientists use bentonite to protect their bodies from radiation when working with nuclear material, by coating their hands and bodies with a hydrated bentonite "magma" before donning radiation suits. Bentonite adsorbs radiation so well, in fact, that it was the choice material used to dump into Cherynobl after the nuclear meltdown in the former Soviet Union." Dr. Jensen, N.D., D.C., Ph.D., suggests using bentonite to absorb radiation from the bones. Since so many of us are subject to various forms of radiation, whether from X-rays or television or computers, this would be something to consider. This could be extremely important for those who have undergone radiation treatment for cancer.

Ex-DAFB Commander says Troops used as Guinea Pigs

A former Dover Air Force Base commander says military officials used his troops as guinea pigs in illegal medical experiments under the government's controversial anthrax vaccination program. After some of his troops in their 20s and 30s began developing arthritis, neurological problems, memory loss and incapacitating migraine headaches, Col. Felix Grieder took a drastic step. In 1999, he halted the vaccination program in Dover, a move he said ended his military career. The decorated Air Force colonel has spent the past five years trying to discover the truth about the vaccine program in Dover, where he commanded 4,000 troops.

GOVERNMENT ALLEGED TO HAVE USED MILITARY AND CIVILIAN POPULATIONS AS GUINEA PIGS "Damning evidence for the fact that this is an artificial, man-made infection, according to Dr. Nicolson, "is the fact that antibodies against synthetic squalene, which is only used in experimental vaccines, has been found in the blood of soldiers. There are very few experimental vaccines that have this type of adjuvant in them--and one of them is a HIV vaccine." A Washington Times article claims that, "Dale Vesser, a retired Army general, was the first Pentagon spokesman to admit...that the Department of Defense had squalene and used it in recent experimental medical tests ..."

"Indeed, the government seems to have been playing a form of biological roulette with its service members' well-being and medical history. In an article published on December 21st, the Cleveland Plain Dealer claimed that a U.S. Army ethics review board, just prior to the Gulf War, insisted that it would be a breach of medical ethics to test an unapproved vaccine on military personnel without issuing a warning as to its potential effects. That ruling, however, "by the ethics committee at the army's biological research station at Fort Detrick, Md., was overridden after the Defense Department cited national security concerns."

The Many Illnesses, Symptoms and Disorders of GWS

These include many autoimmune symptoms and disorders; severe and chronic fatigue; chronic vomiting and diarrhea and other gastrointestinal illnesses; chronic fevers; skin sores and rashes including ones that look like giant ring worm; muscle and joint pain; severe weight loss (a wasting away); immuno-suppressant disorders similar to AIDS; heart problems, irregular heart beat; shortness of breath; headaches; bleeding and hemorrhaging; nasal congestion; twitching; oral ulcerations, blisters on the lips; swollen lymph nodes; multiple chemical sensitivities; severe muscle and joint pain and aches; chronic and severe headaches; hemorrhaging from any orifice; urinary tract infections, urinary urgency, incontinence, and other urinary and bladder and kidney disorders; nerve damage; numbness and tingling; partial paralysis; swollen lymph nodes; drooling; excessive sweating; cramping; diverticulitis; convulsions, loss of consciousness and coma; bizarre tumors and often brain stem tumors, and various radiation-caused cancers; lymphomas; leukemia; cervical cancer; severe sleep disorders, including insomnia for days at a time, night sweats; respiratory infections; an inability to function physically and mentally; neurologic and neuropsychological symptoms; Hodgkin's Disease; lymphomas; leukemia; tumors and various radiation caused cancers; Graves' Disease of the thyroid; microorganism infections; strange sensations that a body part is missing or as splashed with hot water or in ice; Multiple Sclerosis; Lou Gehrig's Disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and Guillain-Barr Syndrome-like symptoms. The female partners of affected G.I.'s and female G.I.'s are also developing ovarian cysts and tumors, cervical cancer, herpes, chlamydia; and a great number of other symptoms. Chronic stress, Anxiety or nervousness are common, as are severe depression, deep sadness, memory loss, confusion, difficult concentration, personality changes, mood swings, irritability, violent angry rages, the need to calm down by self medicating with alcohol or drugs; and many are suicidal.

"I am a Gulf War veteran and I have had many of the symptoms of Gulf War syndrome. Some of those ailments include: headaches, severe fatigue, aching joints, sore muscles, memory loss, abdominal pain, huge bleeding boils, severe nausea, and severe mood swings. Before I started the glyconutrients, I was not very happy with life. I was not suicidal, but I was not much fun to be around. I did not feel like doing anything. After I started the nutraceuticals a friend shared with me, I started feeling like a normal person again. I started having more fun with my family and actually wanted to go out and do things. I do not require as much sleep and always feel the drive and energy to do whatever I want to do." ~ Ettor

The Irritable Heart: The Medical Mystery of the Gulf War

Gulf War syndrome is a vague diagnosis for such symptoms as diarrhea, headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and irregular heart rhythm (the eponymous "irritable heart"). Causes of the syndrome have been variously cited as exposure to chemical weapons, nerve gas and fuel oil fumes, but, as Wheelwright explains, the same symptoms could also be the result of chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity or fybromyalgia. Wheelwright, former science editor of Life magazine and author of Degrees of Disaster, gathers epidemiological evidence and personal histories to argue that modern medicine lacks the wisdom and skills to understand Gulf War syndrome because medical experts look at physical symptoms separately from emotional symptoms. For example, when Carol Best returned from the war, she began to experience, among other symptoms, frequent asthma attacks that were similar to those brought on before the war by her exposure to chemicals in the printing shop where she had worked. Best wonders if her stint in the Gulf is responsible for her poor health, but, argues the author, she never considers that going through a divorce could be a possible contributing factor, and, in the end, the doctors are unable to pinpoint the source of her illness. Wheelwright assumes a self-conscious and patronizing posture ("I have an agenda for Carol, and I must push ahead with it"), but his argument that modern medicine must adopt a more holistic approach as it confronts new medical mysteries is a clarion call to medical professionals and laypersons concerned about the state of health in contemporary society.

Vaccines Threaten Up to 44,000 U.S. Soldiers

U.S. soldier in Iraq, Pfc. Leif Hamre, 22, may face dismissal for refusing the anthrax vaccine. According to his own statements, he’s already been given an Article 15 – a non-judicial military punishment – including being taken off missions, assigned 18-hour workdays, and reduction in his pay scale, in addition to being subjected to threats and intimidation. Concerned about the questionable safety of the vaccine, he became even more concerned after he discovered the military wasn’t even handling the vaccine under the rules for storing it at the correct temperature. In an open letter he states, “The tactics they have used to coerce me into taking the shot are unregulated, unscrupulous and downright un-American.” But Hamre is not alone in his opposition to the vaccine. A recent report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) confirms that about one to two percent of immunized individuals may end up with severe adverse reactions, including disability, chronic disease and death. Even at that seemingly low risk, when calculated across the 2.2 million in the service, an estimated 44,000 enlisted could potentially end up in the morgue.

Dr. Meryl Nass, is the leading authority on anthrax vaccinations in the U.S. She has been on the forefront in exposing the anthrax vaccine’s risk to health. She also helped expose the covert and immoral U.S. military and government testing of vaccines on troops without their knowledge or consent. Her website, anthraxvaccine.org, contains much of the latest up-to-date information about this vaccine, so if you’re interested in getting more in-depth information I’d highly recommend it. Her website is also actively seeking plaintiffs in a new lawsuit against the government over the restart of the anthrax vaccination program that now may cost Pfc. Hamre his job. No doubt, there's big money in the hysteria surrounding anthrax.

Veteran Battles Pentagon's Vaccine, Seeks 'Justice for All'

In more than five years of research, Dingle and Rempfer concluded the anthrax vaccine was improperly licensed and ineffective. They found it created thousands of adverse reactions and was unnecessary. The threat of a foreign anthrax attack is extremely remote, they discovered. And, if there ever is such an attack, those exposed can take antibiotics afterward, they confirmed. That would avoid six anthrax vaccinations over 18 months as well as annual booster shots. Significantly, the infamous 2001 anthrax powder attacks, killing five people and sickening 17 others after 9/11, were domestic and not foreign in nature. They were allegedly inspired by laboratory insiders who mailed the powder to the offices of two US senators, a number of national news offices in New York City, and elsewhere. The incidents are still under active FBI investigation.

That probe, says Fox News, recently identified three or four new suspects at an Army bioweapons lab intricately involved in helping to support the need for the mandated vaccine. They include a deputy commander, an anthrax scientist and a microbiologist. Curiously, at that point in time, the vaccine's continued use was being threatened by closer scrutiny from the US Department of Defense and other Bush administration officials. Adverse vaccine reactions include immune disorders, muscle and joint pains, headaches, rashes, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, chills and fever. At least half a dozen deaths and a warning against birth defects were listed on the vaccine's January 31, 2002, package insert, but they have never been proven to be vaccine-related. The vaccine is not recommended for use by pregnant women or for those who have experienced a history of Guillain-Barre Syndrome . And, last October, the GAO identified a potential $100 million in government waste annually. The anthrax vaccine stockpile for civilian emergencies had been improperly administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, the GAO report said.

A Ministry of Defence, Colonel Graham Howe, clinical director of psychiatry with the British Forces Health Service in Germany has said a cocktail of vaccines may be to blame for a range of debilitating illnesses known as Gulf War syndrome . BBC News 2004/01/12

The Las Vegas Sun recently reported:

"More than 1,200 military personnel who received the anthrax vaccine before going to Iraq have developed serious illnesses, according to an Army report released last month, though local military officials contend the shots still are safe and necessary."
(June 16th, 2005)

At least the military is now reportedly allowing service members to refuse its deadly vaccines without having their careers destroyed. According to the Sun, "Maj. Brian Blalock, public health flight commander at Nellis Air Force Base, said the anthrax shot is no longer mandatory for service members who are willing to sign a waiver releasing the military from liability." (We've come a long way from the first Gulf War when recalcitrant soldiers were held down and forcibly injected with experimental vaccines.)

Comment from a viewer:

Name: Katherine Hogan
Email: katherine.hogan @ bdab.centaf.af.mil
Location: Fort Madison, Iowa
Date: Nov 2, 2005

I stumbled across your page concerning the Anthrax vaccine and the Gulf War syndrome. In one of the sections it mentioned that you cannot be sent anywhere out of the conus with out having the Anthrax shot, this is no longer true. I am currently deployed in Iraq, with out the shot. I have turned it down twice (once before I left and then once when I had first gotten here). I had to sign some paper, but they let me go with out it. The government has improved some on this. Not that I mind the error, but I thought you might want to know that when concerning this, your site is not totally up to date. Also, I thought it might please you to know that I couldn't access gulfwarvets.com, not b/c your link is faulty but b/c the government filtering system (normally used to block porn and music downloading) blocks it, because it is an 'Advocacy Group'.

Persian Gulf War Veterans may be Suffering from a Immune System Imbalance Syndrome

"Many of these scientists have uncovered real problems, however. Of particular interest are those that involve neurological damage and evidence of infections, many of which may be naturally present (endogenous) or which are otherwise opportunistic, but are no longer being kept in check by the body's immune system. Evidence of these opportunistic infections that have been reported in separate independent studies of Persian Gulf War veterans include: gram- positive cocci (Dr. E. Hyman, M.D., New Orleans, LA); microsporidium (C. Gutierrez, Moutain Home, TN); candidiasis (multiple sources); Epstein Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), (Dr. B. Milner, M.D., Allyn Park, MI); and mycoplasma (Dr. G. Nicholson, Ph.D. and Dr. N. Nicholson, Ph.D, Houston, TX). While each of these studies has been limited in scope, there was no pattern to subject selection other than the symptoms that have come to be associated with the syndrome. In each isolated study, the findings indicated that a large number of the veterans examined were infected with the specific pathogen under scrutiny. A limited endocrine study found that the seminal fluid of veterans studied contained fungal- or protozoa-like structures, a decreased protein content, and an increased pH, possibly resulting in enhanced polyamine synthesis, which could result in ammonia. (Dr. W. Boone, Ph.D., Greenville, SC). This might possibly explain the burning sensation during intercourse being reported by the veterans and their spouses.

Since many of the toxins these individuals are known to have been exposed to have immunodamaging effects, and since many of these observed infections are commonly associated with autoimmune diseases and other chronic illnesses, there is abundant evidence to warrant further research into the possibility that Persian Gulf War Syndrome may be an immune system imbalance syndrome, triggered by the neurological and toxicological effects of wartime exposures. This hypothesis has been strengthened by the discovery of the activation of human endogenous retroviral (HERV) gene sequences in Gulf War veterans -- an observation made in other individuals suffering from the symptoms of other autoimmune diseases (Dr. H. Urnovitz, Ph.D., Berkeley, CA). These research findings could be the keys to explaining the syndrome as it has actually been observed -- the symptoms, the transmissibility primarily to family members, and the teratogenic (birth defect-causing) effects."

Pyridostigmine Bromide

Documents released by the Pentagon in 1995 revealed that high-ranking military officials had pressured the Food and Drug Administration into authorizing experimentation with pyridostigmine bromide (PB) tablets for protection against Iraqi chemical or biological attacks. PB tablets are usually only used for the treatment of the chronic muscle weakness disorder myasthenia gravis, but the military and the FDA waived the traditional informed consent procedures during the early stages of the conflict. Many soldiers did inquire about the classified nature of the pills, but, nevertheless, they were forced to consume them in excessive quantities by their commanding officers. Others, fearing for their safety, ignored the orders of their superiors after witnessing the pills' unpleasant gastric effects upon their fellow servicemen.

Evidence has indicated that the procedure for administering the pills placed the recipients at risk. Records of who received the pills were not kept, and a standard dosage was distributed, regardless of sex, age, weight, or medical history. What's more, the toxicity of this experimental drug was actually heightened by issuing it along with powerful insecticides, such as DEET, a potentially lethal combination."

Dr. Mercola on the Iraq War: "When the war finally ends, it is highly likely we will experience a recurrence of Gulf War syndrome, as it appears to be related to the vaccines given to the troops. If anything, the current troops have received more vaccines than the previous troops."

Gulf War Syndrome and Illnesses

GWS causes many illnesses which are real and terrifying. It can be both lethal and moderately contagious. It can be communicable through casual and intimate contact of bodily fluids from sexual exchange and by airborne contact by coughing and perspiration, making for secondary infectees. GWS is not imagined as the U.S. Dept of Defense has alleged for the past 5 years while refusing proper medical care and benefits to the vets and their families. To date GWS affects well over 160,000 of the Gulf War veterans. This ever-growing statistic does not include the secondary infectees: the wives, children, other family members, friends or associates who are sick, disabled, dying or dead.

Whole families are now ill. Their babies are being born with severe congenital defects and deformities, including being born with one or more missing limbs, missing an eye or ear or organs, and blood disorders. Sixty seven percent of babies born to Gulf War vets are affected, and over half of all babies born in Iraq since the war are affected. Even their pets are coming down with the GWS illnesses and dying. Iraq is also reporting alarmingly high increases in rare and unknown diseases, primarily in their children. Kuwait is also affected, as are the British veterans of the Gulf War.

At the end of the Gulf War, in March of 1991, the Pentagon hailed the war as a virtually bloodless victory-- for the U.S. But it may take decades and generations before the true casualty count is known. Symptoms began immediately in some cases, but mostly they have appeared six months to six years after the time of exposure. They can get progressively worse until the victim is partially or completely disabled

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Savely Yurkovsky, MD is a former or current member of many professional organizations, including the American College of Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), American Institute of Homeopathy. He is a cardiologist and Board Certified physician, internationally known expert in Integrative Medicine with special interest in toxicology and infectious diseases. Dr. Yurkovsky resides with his wife and two children in Connecticut, and maintains a private practice in Chappaqua, New York.

Gulf War Illnesses: Questions about the Presence of Squalene Antibodies in Veterans Can Be Resolved

"It had been requested by Rep. Jack Metcalf, R-WA, who was prompted by concerns that experimental, unlicensed vaccines might have been used on troops heading for the Persian Gulf to protect them from anthrax, botulism, and other diseases -- and that it was these vaccines that caused the illnesses and symptoms referred to as Gulf War syndrome, from which so many veterans suffer. " Still for many the question is: how did squalene antibodies get into the bloodstreams of veterans? That's what Metcalf is asking, and as the report's title suggests, the matter can be resolved."

Squalene Gulf War illness evidence grows over injections An American scientist has carried out research which provides the strongest evidence yet that injections given to troops to protect them against biological weapons are to blame for Gulf War Syndrome.

Gulf War Participants Force-Injected with Experimental Vaccines

"Gulf War Syndrome, Biological Warfare Conducted on U.S. Military Members, and Corporate Bio-Genocide Levied on the Planetary Population"
By Captain Joyce Riley in Houston, Texas on Jan 15, 1996

"Let's talk about how we were affected on the biological side. The first way was with the immunizations. We were given 10 or 11 immunizations prior to going to the gulf. We don't know everything we got. Some of us got sick afterwards. The Anthrax vaccinations were given over in the Gulf, in the theater of operations, and you were forced to submit to it. If you didn't take it, you were court-martialed. People were put into a room like this, the doors were locked, and they had security guards with side arm who stood by while people were forced to take this injection. Why? Why would they do this to people? The Anthrax "vaccine" had not been approved and was experimental. The injection for Botulism was also dangerous. All of these things in combination created a problem."

ORGANOPHOSPHATE TOXICITY

"The second of the Gulf War syndromes is apparently associated with, and presumably due to, ORGANOPHOSPHATE TOXICITY. Seventy-seven per cent of British Troops refused the vaccines4. But the British troops were housed in tents painted with organophosphates to protect against mites and other insects.5 In addition to the symptoms of the 1st group, they developed other symptoms including tightness in the chest, coughing, dyspnea, and pulmonary edema (the cough and breathing difficulties were originally ascribed by the US Defense Dept. to fine sand particles6), bizarre behavior, sweating, salivation, and blurred and/or dark vision. (This agent inhibits blood cholinesterase; it was originally developed as a biologic warfare agent!) Requests to the US Defense Department for information on whether any American troops were housed in such tents, what percent of these received the vaccines and what percent did not, remain "classified information." The American troops with this syndrome whom I have talked to said they slept on the ground and wore petrochemical insecticide collars. It is noteworthy that the French troops (who, again, refused the vaccines), under separate command, refused such pesticides."