FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 5, 2001
CONTACT: RANDI ALLAIRE, (616) 317-3614; ROBIN SMITH-HAWES, (616) 660-0729; or SONNIE BATES, (302) 430-0279
NATIONAL ANTHRAX VACCINE NETWORK RELEASES
FULL LIST OF YOSSARIAN AWARD NOMINEES;
AWARD DATE SEPT. 15 IN LANSING, MI.
LANSING, MI: The national Anthrax Vaccine Network, Inc. has released the full slate of nominees for its first annual "Yossarian Award," to be presented at a major anti-anthrax rally and press conference from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, on the Capital Steps in Lansing, Michigan. Named after the lead character in Joseph Heller's Catch- 22, the Yossarian Award will be presented to the person or group of people who have most effectively kept troops mired between risking their health or having a federal felony hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives; or in some other way managed to mangle reason, justice, the law, common sense, and medical treatment.
Nominations include:
- Lt. Col. Mark Allred was the military judge who presided at Captain John Buck''s court-martial after Dr. Buck, an emergency room physician at Keesler AFB, MS, refused the vaccine. Lt. Col. Allred is nominated for refusing to allow any evidence in Dr. Buck's trial that would have proven the orders to take the vaccine illegal. No defense was the only defense allowed.
- The FDA is nominated for failing to reject the anthrax vaccine's license application when the National Institute of Health passed responsibility for biologics to the FDA in 1972. Failure to revoke the anthrax vaccine license when the FDA officially reviewed the product in 1985, despite the lack of actual data for the anthrax vaccine absorbed, versus a 'copycat' vaccine made by Merck, contrary to the requirements of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act.
- Major General Paul A. Weaver, Director of the Air National Guard -- Failure to protect Air National Guard members from an illegal and experimental vaccine. When asked to report the attrition caused by the anthrax vaccine policy, he failed to report the real loses, but instead implied "one" Servicemember was lost. In the fall of 2000, the General Accounting Office confirmed 25% of squadrons affected were being lost.
- Former President William Jefferson Clinton -- failure to enforce the requirements of his own Executive Order, EO 13139, and failure to enforce the Congress' similar requirements under 10 USC 1107 concerning the use of experimental products on US Servicemembers. Failure to serve as Commander in Chief and protect the soldiers under his command.
- Marine Maj. Gen. Randy L. West, Special Adviser to the Secretary of Defense for anthrax and bio-defense affairs -- failure to protect the troops of the US from an illegal policy, and from an experimental vaccination program. Failure to testify in accordance with the requirements of honesty according to the Joint Ethics Regulations requiring truthfulness, straightforwardness, and candor, concerning the GAO reports about the losses due to the anthrax vaccine, as well as an accurate assessment of the injured and the opposition.
- Army Major Guy Strawder, original Director of the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program , Agency of the Office of the Army Surgeon General (AVIP). Strawder was responsible for the infamous quote, "Much of the hand-wringing and bizarre allegations about the vaccine is coming from a vocal minority of people who think the ``field'' is where a farmer works and ``Gortex'' is one of the Power Rangers. Most of these folks have never spent a single moment in harm's way and have no appreciation of what sacrifice means."
- Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen -- failed to accomplish the four point review required prior to the implementation of the AVIP. Failed to protect troops from being administered adulterated and illegal vaccine. Failed to protect troops from being punished for asking that their health rights under the law be respected. Failure to serve as a Secretary of Defense. The "Worst Secretary of Defense ever," according to the Washington Post.
-more- Yossarian Award Nominees,
- Army Col. Arthur Friedlander, Medical Corps, Ft. Detrick – After originally writing a book about the dangers of the anthrax vaccine, a decade later he did a 180- degree turn, and falsely testified to a Canadian Court-martial about the investigational nature of the anthrax vaccine; misled the US Congress about effectiveness of the anthrax vaccine; and participated in the investigational trials and meetings relating to the anthrax vaccine's attempted, but failed, applications for approval and licensure as protection against the inhaled form of anthrax.
- Lt. Col. John Grabenstein, Deputy Director of Clinical Operations for the AVIP. Lt. Col. Grabenstein was the DOD's representative, a pharmacist, at the court-martial of Dr. John Buck. Ph.D. Grabenstein essentially maintained that the DOD doctor and scientists wear two hats - one of officer and one of scientist, and that they must be trusted despite the abysmal history of medical military experimentation. Mr. Grabenstein has extensive contacts with the pharmaceutical industry.
- Dr. Poland -- The person nominating Dr. Poland feels that giving Poland the award will portray the direct conflict of interest between Poland, a Mayo Clinic Doctor, and the DOD. Poland disappeared from the contracted, paid, DOD AVIP advocate scene once intense scrutiny upon the program was validated by Congress. The so-called outside opinion provided the DOD by the Mayo clinic is in fact no outside opinion at all, and is inherently biased at its source, as evidenced by Dr. Poland's involvement with the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board. Dr. Poland is one of the many doctors who have disappeared on the front of protecting the anthrax vaccine over the health of their troops.
- Col. Walter Burns, former Commander of the 103rd Fighter Wing, Connecticut Air National Guard. Col. Walter Burns ordered the resignations of the same officers he tasked with investigating the anthrax vaccine, and accused them of "failing to live up to the Air Force Core Value of `Service Before Self,'" after he was unable to answer questions raised about the failed FDA inspection in February 1998; was unable to address Senate Report 103-97, deeming the vaccine's use as "investigational; and was unable to explain Ft. Detrick's Col. Friedlander's review of the vaccine as unsatisfactory and uneffective in the textbook "Vaccines."
- Dr. Sue Bailey, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, for her absolute denial about the problems with the vaccine even when confronted with those realities in Congressional hearings. "The vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective... Anthrax vaccine has been shown to be extremely safe...This vaccine is thought at this point to be effective against all the strains we know about." DoD press briefing, 14 Aug 1998.
Sponsored by the Anthrax Vaccine Network and N.O. A.B.U.S.E. (the National Organization of Americans Battling Unnecessary Servicemember Endangerment), the Rolling Resistance Rally, panel discussion and press conference on Sept. 15 will include experts on the anthrax vaccine as well as troops and veterans who have become seriously ill from taking the vaccine or who have lost their careers because of their refusal to take the vaccine.
For more information on problems with the military's Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program, please log on to either http://www.majorbates.com or http://www.anthraxvaccine.net.
For more information about "Rolling Resistance 2001,"
please call Randi Allaire, (616) 317-3613; Robin Smith Hawes,
(616) 660-0729, or Sonnie Bates, (302) 430-0279.
Contents Official Documents Congressional Testimony Position Papers Troop Experiences News Articles Government Contact Information Opinion Informative WWW Sites Benefit versus Risk
Last revised: September 2001