Ministry of Deceit
PROOF MoD LIED TO SICK VETS OVER GULF WAR SYNDROME
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News of the World CAMPAIGN
by Robert Kellaway
  13 June 2004

Sick Gulf War veterans were told a blatant LIE when the Ministry of Defense insisted they were not given a dangerous cocktail of vaccines, the News of the World can reveal.

For the past 14 years officials have repeatedly claimed there was no evidence to link the veterans' Gulf War Syndrome illnesses to the jabs they were given.

But we have seen proof that it was sent an urgent warning about the risk the injections carried to troops health BEFORE the 1991 conflict - and went ahead with them anyway.

The alarm was raised by the government's own Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jeremy Metters in December 1990 after trials in animals highlighted the potential dangers of joint whooping cough and anthrax jabs.

The warning was given to Dr. Metters in a fax marked urgent from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control.  And he was so concerned, he handwrote a letter to the Ministry  of Defence (MoD) the same day rather than wait for the staff to return from Christmas leave to type it.

He also revealed that "anxieties" about the joint vaccine had been raised with the ministry before in the letter, Dr Metters gave details of tests carried out by the institute and its concern at plans to give squaddies anthrax and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccinations at the same time.  

Severe

The institute warned that animals given the joint jabs suffered "severe loss of condition and weight loss."

It said: "These findings are preliminary but they do suggest that if used in man as a combined preparation an enhanced degree of reactagenicity could occur."

This means there was a greater risk of a bad reaction.  Dr. Metters added: "We have previously discussed the anxieties my experts have about the simultaneous administration of anthrax and pertussis vaccine.  I think your medical department needs to be aware of these preliminary results."

Despite the warning, the MoD carried on giving the joint injection as part of a series of jabs for Gulf - bound troops.  It was hoped the whooping cough vaccine would act as an "accelerator", speeding up the effectiveness of the anthrax jab.

Since then many of the Gulf War Syndrome victims have suffered the symptoms Dr Metters warned of.  But the MoD is still refusing to accept any link.

Former soldier Alex Izett, 34, has now started a hunger strike in a bid to get a public enquiry into the issue.

Mr Izett pictured right, who suffers from the bone wasting disease osteoporosis and arthritis was given the anthrax, whooping cough and other jabs in readiness for deployment to the Gulf.  But he was never sent.

The former Royal Engineers lance-corporal has seen his health deteriorate since then.  He is now in the sixth week of his hunger strike, drinking only water and tea at his home in Bersenbrueck, Germany.  He said:  "This is very difficult but I am prepared to die for this if necessary."

Yet when he raised the plight of Gulf War veterans with the MoD he got a reply last month denying the Gulf War Syndrome existed - or that vaccines were to blame for veterans' ill health.

The MoD's Veterans Policy Unit wrote back saying:   "There is no clinical evidence to suggest that the vaccines given to veterans are a cause of ill health.  No unusual or previously undisclosed immunisations were given during the Gulf War Conflict.

Mice  

Mr Izett said:  "Despite the warning from the deputy chief medical officer the MoD went ahead and gave the anthrax and whooping cough jabs simultaneously anyway."

"So how can they say no unusual immunisations were given?"

But an MoD spokesman denied that Dr Metters' warning proved they were aware of the risks of immunisation before the war.

He said: "The information contained was not enough to draw a firm conclusion.  It referred to preliminary involving mice rather than humans.

We have carried out testing of certain batches of anthrax and whooping cough vaccine.  When each of the two vaccines, were tested alone they were not associated with the unusual degree of toxicity.  However, when combined there was evidence of severe loss of condition and weight in animals.
THE EVIDENCE December 21 1990 - Tests carried out by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control raised serious concerns about the joint vaccine.

We have discussed the anxieties my experts have about the simultaneous administration of anthrax and pertussis vaccine.  You may wish to see the enclosed fax from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control which reports on animal studies they have carried out.  I think your medical department need to be aware of these preliminary results.
THE WARNING December 21 1990 - Dr Metters' handwritten letter telling the MoD of the animal test results and the Institute's concern.

The Government accepts that some veterans of the 1990 / 1991 Gulf Conflict have become ill and some have died.  However... Gulf veterans' ill health cannot be characterised as a discrete 'Gulf War Syndrome'.  There is no clinical evidence to suggest that the vaccines given to veterans are a cause of ill health.
THE LIE May 14 2004 - The Ministry's reply to former soldier Alex Izett, still claiming there is no evidence are a cause of ill health.