IDF secretly uses soldiers as anthrax vaccine guinea pigs

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IDF secretly uses soldiers as anthrax vaccine guinea pigs

TV documentary reveals army tested experimental anthrax vaccines on
elite combat soldiers, but refused to treat them after adverse
symptoms appeared

Ines Ehrlich
Published: 05.17.07, 13:18 / Israel News

The IDF secretly used elite combat soldiers as "guinea pigs" for
experimental anthrax vaccines, according to an expose broadcast
Wednesday night by the "Uvda" (Fact) documentary program.


Presenter Ilana Dayan revealed how in 2000, the army decided to carry
out anthrax antibody experiments ahead of independent manufacture in
Israel.


According to the report, hundreds of young recruits into Israel's
elite combat units were offered the opportunity to partake in a top
secret experiment codenamed "Omer 2". They were led to believe they
were performing a national service of the utmost importance to the
state.


The soldiers were told that the antibody had been approved by the
American FDA as far back as 1970 and was used on thousands of
American military personnel. It was explained that the experiment
they would undergo constituted the final phase prior to anthrax
vaccine production in Israel, which would cater to a possible
eventuality of a biological attack on military or civilian populations.


In 2004, a US district judge ruled that the program of anthrax
vaccine for use on American military personnel be stopped due to a
series of side effects experienced by US troops.



Classified information

Since 2000, the soldiers selected for the experiment underwent a
series of seven inoculations, all carried out in top secret, without
even the knowledge of their commanding officers. When various
symptoms such as serious skin lesions and pneumonia began to appear,
the soldiers did not relate them to the experiment and sought
standard medical treatment provided by the military.


Once soldiers began to suspect that there may be a connection between
the vaccines and their symptoms, they contacted the secret unit in
charge of the program and presented their case. The symptoms, it was
explained to them, had absolutely nothing to do with the inoculations.


Regular army doctors were unable to diagnose the mystery ailments
without knowing what drugs had been administered in the shots.


Nir, a fictitious name, who was interviewed throughout the program,
was the only soldier to receive the full series of seven shots. When
forced to involve his parents after being hospitalized, he tried to
find out what the vaccine contained so that he could receive adequate
treatment. He called the unit begging to be told what he had been
given - his request was refused outright as it was "classified
information".

'Citizens can sleep peacefully'

Professor Tzvi Bentowitz, head of the research institute researching
infectious diseases at Ben Gurion University, said, "The fact that
this matter was shrouded in secrecy here while it created such an
outcry in the US is astonishing, to say the least."


The secret medical unit had also contacted the air force in an
attempt to recruit pilots for the experiment, but air force officials
refused, saying that possible side effects could interfere with
pilots' performance.


In response, the IDF's chief doctor, Brigadier-General Hezi Levy,
told the program that the citizens of the State of Israel will be
happy to know that Israel has developed its own anthrax vaccine and
can now "sleep peacefully".


He added that from now on the army would take full responsibility for
any adverse symptoms experienced by the group of soldiers, and that
it would coordinate treatments with the relevant medical institutions.

Meryl Nass, MD
Mount Desert Island Hospital
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
207 288-5081 ext. 220