On September 12, the Institue of Medicine issued a Department of Veterans Affairs commissioned lie entitled, Gulf War and Health[1]. The charge to the committee members reads as follows:
"The charge to this IOM committee is different from charges to previous IOM Gulf War committees in that this one does not associate health outcomes with specific biologic or chemical agents believed to have been present in the gulf, but rather it examines health outcomes related to deployment. For that reason, the committee did not review toxicologic or experimental studies. Thus, the committee has limited its review to epidemiologic studies of health outcomes in Gulf War veterans to determine their health status. The specific charge to the committee, as requested by the VA, was to review, evaluate, and summarize peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature addressing the health status of Gulf War veterans."[2]
Just from reading the charge to the committee, I could tell that the entire report would cheapen the paper it was written on. Let me explain. I served on active duty in the Marine Corps infantry from 1995 to 1999. The Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program was inaugurated in 1998. My unit started the anthrax vaccine series in the beginning of 1999, and the policy was to make us take the shots even if we were about to get out of the Marine Corps. I got the first three anthrax shots two months before I came home on terminal leave, and three months before my End of Active Service date. I also ended up with a plurality of health problems posterior to receiving the anthrax shots.
Of peripheral interest, my brother-in-law, who was also in the Marine Corps, deployed to the Gulf during the first war, and he is fine. He never received the anthrax vaccine.
Since I got the shots right before I got out of the Marine Corps, I was never treated for any health problems while in the military. This means, if we are to objectively consider the anthrax vaccine as a possible cause of "Gulf War" Syndrome, then we must not rely on Department of Defense data.
Playing charades, the Institute of Medicine's report even lists the anthrax vaccine as one of the possible causes of "Gulf War" Syndrome[3].
The committee was headed by Johns Hopkins University's brightest, Dr. Lynn Goldman. Goldman's feeble deflection was, "There's no unique pattern of symptoms. Every pattern identified in gulf war veterans also seems to exist in other veterans, though it is important to note the symptom rate is higher, and it is a serious issue."[4]
There is actually a germ of truth in what Dr. Goldman said. Let us objectively consider the anthrax vaccine as a possible cause of "Gulf War" Syndrome for a moment. If the government gives the anthrax vaccine to troops who serve in Gulf, and then gives the anthrax vaccine to troops stationed in the United States and around the rest of the world as well, would you expect to find a "unique" pattern of symptoms in only those who served in the Gulf? Wouldn't you expect other veterans to have the same problems? So, trying to imply that there is no syndrome, Dr. Goldman is giving us a perverted form of the truth.
But then there is a problem with the methodology of the committee. If the anthrax vaccine was provided with objective consideration as a possible cause of "Gulf War" Syndrome, would it make sense to focus exclusively on those who served in the theater of operations, which includes people who didn't get the shots? Would it make sense to ignore the countless thousands who never served in the Gulf, but did get the shots and did end up with the same health problems? Yet, that is what all of the so called studies do. I guess myopia serves the government well on this issue.
The committee also concluded that there is no "single illness"[5] that affects Persian Gulf veterans. Wow, what insight. A vaccine that causes autoimmune disorders, with so many different kinds of them, can cause different conditions. Yeah. Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, hypo-thyroidism, etc. And guess what? Autoimmune disorders can produce many different kinds of symptoms as well.
If the anthrax vaccine is just a possible cause of "Gulf War" Syndrome, then it should be studied, but it isn't. If the anthrax vaccine is the cause of "Gulf War" Syndrome, then "Gulf War" Syndrome is misnamed. It would be more appropriately called Anthrax Vaccine Syndrome, or DoD Syndrome. To determine one way or the other, there would need to be objective studies done on those who received the anthrax vaccine, without prejudice to the geographic region they served in. Whoever named the syndrome that the VA says isn't even real "Gulf War" Syndrome really threw the VA a curve ball here. Apparently, the name "Gulf War" Syndrome confuses people so much they don't know how to do studies on possible causes of the syndrome, such as the anthrax vaccine.
Those of us who received the anthrax shots, but deployed to all the wrong places, are not included in any of the VA's studies. I deployed to Okinawa, Thailand, and Korea, but never the Gulf. I do not qualify, then, to get into the VA's Gulf War registry. Far from keeping track of those who received the anthrax shots and have health problems, the VA attacks their character.
Despite having empirically verifiable health problems, the VA says everything is in my head. It took seven years of being out of the Marine Corps and moving to another state before the VA ever treated single real health problem of mine. My dermatomyositis was said to be in my head. I had to go to an outside dermatologist to get help for that. After getting the anthrax shots I ended up allergic to fluorescent lights. Although I can prove this, without examination the VA said that was in my head. I still have some undiagnosed problems, and another problem that took six years to get diagnosed. Last year was the first year the VA ever ran labs on me, and I was diagnosed with hypo-thyroidism. It is kind of funny that the literature says only 1 in 1000 males get hypo-thyroidism. I wonder what the statistics are for males who were in the military and received the anthrax shots. We will never know, because I can assure you, the VA is not interested in those statistics.
Rather than relying upon reality to create the statistics, the medical profession uses statistics to morph perception of reality. The truth is like a completed puzzle. It is individual healthcare practitioners who have the pieces to this puzzle, but they are waiting for a completed puzzle before offering their piece. That makes it kind of hard to complete puzzle.
Mark served for four years on active duty in the Marine Corps infantry, and was a candidate for a municipal office in 2002. Mark has helped raise awareness of military and veterans' issues, by establishing No Anthrax Vaccine. His commentary has been carried by such sites as AntiWar.com. He spends much of his free time reading the great minds of the Austrian school of economics, such as Murray Rothbard, Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig von Mises, et al.
