For a history of my involvement with this see my webpages
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/anthrax.htm
Sheri

[Dear PROVE Members,
We talk a lot about safety problems with childhood vaccines, but the
military's anthrax vaccine program is plagued with many of the same
problems.

One brave legislator in Massachussetts is trying to do what she can to help
protect the men and women who serve this country in her state.

We have many military families on this list, and ironically, the feedback
that I have gotten is that many of the servicemen and servicewomen who have
desired
to reject the anthrax vaccine in Texas and in many other states became
concerned after watching a vaccine reaction in their own child or a child of
someone close to them!

My favorite quote was: "At an Institute of Medicine panel meeting Wednesday
in Washington,
D.C., Air Force Capt. John E. Buck, a physician about to be court-martialed
because of his refusal to take the vaccine, charged that the compulsory
vaccination program amounts to an experiment without the subjects' consent." 

With the lack of research into the cumulative effects of multiple vaccines
on a baby's developing immune system up against the backdrop of mandatory
vaccination laws without conscientious exemptions, the same quote could
easily apply to childhood vaccines. 
 
- Dawn]

http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/springfield/index.ssf?/news/pstories/tn420
ant.html

Ill captain blames anthrax

Friday, April 20, 2001
By JOHN F. LAUERMAN

Where did his health go?

That's the question plaguing Capt. Jason M. Nietupski of Longmeadow. Since
last year when he received an experimental anthrax vaccine, he has
experienced medical problems so serious, they have compelled state Rep. Mary
S. Rogeness, R-Longmeadow, to try to prohibit the vaccine's use in
Massachusetts.

Nietupski, an Army veteran now in the Air National Guard, received the
vaccine in February 2000 before going on a joint exercise with Korean
military forces. If he had somehow encountered a device laced with anthrax,
a lethal bacteria believed to be used in biological weapons, the vaccine
could have saved his life.

Instead, the vaccine itself is making him miserable, he said. Before
receiving his third scheduled booster in March 2000, Nietupski's mouth
erupted with sores. He has since been diagnosed with chronic fatigue
syndrome, liver damage, and blood clots deep in his leg.

"He was a top-notch military man," said Rogeness. "Pretty immediately after
receiving the injection his health was compromised and has not improved."

Nietupski said he has seen 30 doctors since receiving the vaccine a little
more than a year ago, and most of them, including the Army's own doctors,
concur that his symptoms are somehow linked to the vaccine.

What bothers him most, though, is that the Department of Defense refuses to
take the problem, or him, seriously.

In March, when he went to the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center
with swelling in his leg, a physician commented that he was concentrating
too much on his medical problems and needed to relax.

Later he was found to have blood clots in his leg, called deep venous
thromboses, that could have life-threatening implications. Nietupski said he
still takes blood-thinners to prevent clot formation.

Critics of the Army's anthrax program, who believe there may be thousands of
recruits affected like Nietupski, point out that the vaccine has not yet
received federal Food and Drug Administration approval, but Army personnel
are not permitted to refuse it.

Rogeness' bill, which she filed after hearing about Nietupski's case, would
prohibit the use of any non-FDA-approved vaccine on members of the military
in Massachusetts.

"We're trying to override federal regulations, and help out people serving
the state," Rogeness said.

In February the Pentagon rejected the call by a panel from the U.S. House of
Representatives calling for a halt in inoculations, saying that the threat
is real and the vaccine is safe.

Sue Baily, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said at
that time that 400,000 troops had been inoculated. Of those, 620 reported
adverse reactions, 26 were hospitalized and only six of those were known to
be related to the vaccine.

The goal is to vaccinate all 2.4 million members of the active and reserve
military, Bailey said.

Members of the Air National Guard's 104th Tactical Fighter wing based in
Westfield received shots in May before heading to Kuwait to fly missions
over southern Iraq.

Cases like Nietupski's have sparked an outcry in the military and civilian
worlds. At an Institute of Medicine panel meeting Wednesday in Washington,
D.C., Air Force Capt. John E. Buck, a physician about to be court-martialed
because of his refusal to take the vaccine, charged that the compulsory
vaccination program amounts to an experiment without the subjects' consent.

"The DoD (Department of Defense) has chosen to use our profession as a tool
to achieve its military objectives," he said, "and in doing so, has severely
compromised the practice of medicine."

Meanwhile, Nietupski said the Veterans Administration is ignoring his
requests for disability payments, and his plea that it put an end to the
vaccine program.

"What has happened to me should remain a testament to bad military policy
and poor medical research," he said.

© 2001 UNION-NEWS. Used with permission.





-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dawn Richardson
PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)
prove@vaccineinfo.net (email)
http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and
practices that affect the children and adults of Texas.  Our mission is to
prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right of
every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for
themselves and their family.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to PROVE Email Updates:
Click here http://vaccineinfo.net//subscribe.htm
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Removal from PROVE Email Updates:
Click here: http://vaccineinfo.net/unsubscribe.htm
You are currently subscribed as vaccineinfo@btinternet.com