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Stars and Stripes: Stop Anthrax Vaccinations,
Urges Connecticut Attorney General
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Attorney General Blumenthal
Stop Anthrax Vaccinations, Urges Connecticut Attorney General
Mar 23, 2001
Dave Eberhart
Stars and Stripes Veterans Affairs Editor
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal March 21 urged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Commissioner Dr. Bernard Schwetz to end the military’s controversial anthrax vaccination program.
It is the civilian government, not the military, which has ultimate responsibility for the safety of U.S. troops.
· Blumenthal
“It is the civilian government, not the military, which has
ultimate responsibility for the safety of U.S. troops,” Blumenthal
said.
In letters to Rumsfeld and Schwetz, Blumenthal argued that the compulsory vaccination program is compelling military personnel, including members of the Connecticut Air National Guard, to “put either their health or their careers at risk.”
Absensce of Assurance
Blumenthal referred to the absence “of any specific assurance
that the federal government would care for and compensate members
of the [Connecticut] National Guard who suffered adverse effects
from the anthrax vaccine.”
Blumenthal has been critical of the DoD program for about a year following the resignation of Guard pilots who refused to be vaccinated. They include Maj. Russell Dingle and Maj. Thomas Rempfer, who resigned 1999.
Blumenthal also cited frustration with the FDA, saying the agency declined to answer certain questions about the vaccine’s safety because of “regulations concerning the confidentiality of information for an unapproved biological process.”
The United States Government so far has refused to recognize or appreciate the danger and the personal dilemma it is imposing on its military personnel.
· Blumenthal
“The United States Government so far has refused to recognize
or appreciate the danger and the personal dilemma it is imposing
on its military personnel, despite repeated concerns expressed
about administering an unlicensed drug never proved safe or effective
for humans,” Blumenthal told Rumsfeld and Schwetz.
“Unfortunately, and directly contrary to law, the [vaccine]
is being administered to military personnel under threat of imprisonment,
loss of pay and discharge. In effect, the military is forcing
its personnel to serve as human guinea pigs for an unlicensed
drug that has not been proven to be safe or effective.”
The only license for the production of anthrax vaccine, granted
in 1970 to MBPI/Bioport Corp., was intended for protection against
skin-contact anthrax, not the inhalation of anthrax spores, Blumenthal
said.
Inconsistent Use
The vaccine’s use by the military is inconsistent with its
licensing, making it, under FDA regulations, an investigational
new drug (IND) that cannot not be used on humans without their
consent, he argued. The vaccination of troops with a product not
licensed for its current use violates the Federal Food, Drug and
Cosmetic Act, he added.
Blumenthal cited congressional testimony indicating that the FDA and the military has known for years that the vaccine’s use was questionable.
“Suddenly in 1997, DoD and the FDA, with no change in the facts or the law, reversed themselves and with the stroke of a pen wiped out the protections afforded our members of the Armed Services by clearing the way for DoD’s mandatory mass inoculations,” Blumenthal said.
He called on the Pentagon and the FDA to “cease and desist
from their illegal conduct and to abandon plans for anthrax vaccine
inoculation of the armed forces” and to at least make the
inoculations voluntary.
“Additionally, the FDA should block the manufacture and sale
of [the vaccine] by BioPort and renounce the 1997 action which
illegally cleared the way for the DoD’s mass inoculations.”
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Last revised: March 2004