If the central issue is whether the anthrax vaccine was licensed for use against inhalation anthrax, the FDA showed it was not approved for such use by issuing their statement on December 30, 2003, long after the shots were administered. There was no informed consent and the experimental injections were mandatory for military personnel, which makes the forced vaccinations patently illegal.
In the end it appears the Pentagon's lies will catch up with them. Pending court decisions will show whether the legal system works. In the meantime this dangerous vaccine, with a fraudulent license from 1970, has resumed its mandatory place for our service personnel.
Twenty-year-old Specialist Kurt Hickman, who was convicted in a December 2003 court-martial of disobeying a direct order by refusing to take the anthrax vaccine, had that conviction overturned after the mandatory vaccination program was banned by Judge Sullivan's historic ruling. He did not refuse to be deployed with his unit to Iraq.18
After the FDA had its sudden change of heart, Hickman refused the shot yet again and was charged, again, in Indiana. However, the Army dropped the charge when his unit was deployed to Iraq. Apparently Camp Atterbury commander Lt. Col. Kenneth D. Newlin intervened and the charges were dropped. In this rare exception Hickman seems to have beaten the system.
Hickman is not alone; at least three other soldiers have been deployed to Iraq after refusing the anthrax shot.19 Some brave commanders are resisting Pentagon pressures and risking the loss of possible promotions to do the right thing. Will BioPort's dangerous vaccine maintain its mandatory status when the draft is reinstated in 2005? That's going to be a hot issue when the time comes.
WHERE'S CONGRESS?
Where's the Congress in all this? Funny you should ask…
You may recall that Senator Patrick Leahy, in November of 2001, demanded that Attorney General John Ashcroft explain his order to wiretap attorney-client phone conversations, in complete violation of the Fifth Amendment. Leahy demanded a response by November 13, 2001. His answer came a little late. On November 16, Senator Leahy received an anthrax letter. Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader, received an anthrax letter also. Congress has been out of the anthrax vaccine debate ever since. How convenient.20
Robert Stevens, editor of The Sun tabloid in Florida died on October 5, 2001 from an anthrax letter sent to Sun headquarters. His wife, Maureen Stevens, is suing the government for lax security. Her attorney, Richard Schuler, has said DNA tests would prove the anthrax strain used was produced at the U.S. Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md. Schuler has been denied access to the DNA tests, and the federal government is asking the courts to delay the law suit for "national security" concerns.21
In Congressional Testimony on February 12, 2004, Tom Ridge stated:
($2.5 billion for) Project BioShield allows the Federal Government to pre-purchase critically needed vaccines and medications for biodefense as soon as experts agree that they are safe and effective enough to be added to the Strategic National Stockpile.22
With BioPort's anthrax vaccine receiving a sudden approval from the "experts" at the FDA, and VaxGen's anthrax vaccine given fast track approval to get past the "experts" as quickly as possible, it seems that the plan isn't to have these stockpiles gather dust. BioPort says it expects to sign its first contract to provide the anthrax vaccine for civilians sometime this year, but has not named the potential client.23 Get the picture?
Recently the NYPD announced it has undergone massive contingency exercises for the scenario of a chemical or biological attack in Manhattan. Scenarios may include mass dissemination and administration of vaccines and quarantining people in their own homes. The city has also recently changed its health codes to detain anyone health officials suspect of having been exposed to a deadly infectious pathogen.24
THE NEXT GENERATION OF INSANITY
BioSante Pharmaceuticals has just announced a subcontract with DynPort (a subsidiary of CSC-DynCorp) to develop anthrax vaccines using nanotechnology based alternative delivery systems.25 Nanotechnology involves building new structures at the molecular level. Atoms are individually moved, one at a time, to create new molecules, some of which do not occur in nature.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease is funding $8.3 million to University of Maryland researchers to develop an oral anthrax vaccine. They hope to provide vaccination with 2 doses of genetically engineered oral vaccine.26
The World Health Organization (WHO) is promoting aerosolized vaccines for measles and rubella. Clinical trials are planned for this year and could be completed by 2007. The two systems the WHO has presented for delivery of the vaccines are jet nebulizers and ultrasonic nebulizers.27
(caption: photos originally published by the World Health Organization
<http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/measles/en/aerosol.pdf>)
This program is promoted for the developing world, where conditions for needle hygiene are often lacking; but one can easily see the day when most vaccines will be aerosolized. These delivery systems are still beset by technical problems and safety concerns.28 Since such concerns have not stopped dangerous vaccine injections, it is unlikely they will stop aerosol vaccines. The Measles Aerosol Project has been given high priority by WHO, in partnership with American Red Cross and the CDC (Center for Disease Control). The project has received financial support from the Gates Foundation.29
Cont ...