- ``The DoD has finally acknowledged that
our troops were given a drug to protect against a nerve agent they knew
the enemy did not have,'' Rockefeller said. ``That this happened to our
troops is very disturbing. That it took the DoD seven years to admit their
error is inconceivable.''
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- WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon plans to be more selective in giving U.S.
troops experimental drugs and vaccines to counter possible chemical weapons
attacks.
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- Gary Christopherson, acting assistant
secretary of defense, told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on Tuesday
that an experimental drug used during the Persian Gulf War won't be given
to U.S. forces in the future unless there is strong evidence a specific
nerve gas is in use.
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- The drug, pyridostygmine bromide, or
PB, was given to about 600,000 troops during the 1991 war with Iraq - without
their consent - and has been implicated in illnesses among veterans.
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- ``PB is a valuable and necessary element''
of defense against chemical weapons attacks, Christopherson told the committee
in a letter. But he added that the drug will be used in the future only
if ``intelligence indicates imminent use of the nerve agents soman or tabun
against U.S. forces'' or when ``actual use of soman or tabun'' is occurring.
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- During the Gulf War, the Defense Department
had no reason to believe soman and tabun were being used. Instead, intelligence
indicated Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of the nerve gas sarin.
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- Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia,
ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the limited
use for the drug suggests the Pentagon never should have given it to Gulf
War troops.
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- ``The DoD has finally acknowledged that
our troops were given a drug to protect against a nerve agent they knew
the enemy did not have,'' Rockefeller said. ``That this happened to our
troops is very disturbing. That it took the DoD seven years to admit their
error is inconceivable.''
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- The Defense Department's guidelines for
the future use of PB, laid out in the letter to the committee, were presented
at a hearing Tuesday. The letter answered questions posed by Rockefeller.
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- The senator said he wanted to know Pentagon
plans on the use of vaccines and drugs to counter chemical weapons in case
the Iraq crisis flares into conflict.
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- Defense Secretary William Cohen already
has announced plans to speed up vaccinations of U.S. troops to counter
anthrax.
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- During the Gulf War, the Pentagon didn't
tell U.S. troops they were given PB because the military did not want to
tip off Iraq about its preparations for such attacks. The Food and Drug
Administration, which had approved the drug's limited use, complained and
the Pentagon said future vaccinations will be fully disclosed.
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- PB is under scrutiny for possible links
to Gulf War illnesses, which can include chronic fatigue, headaches, nausea,
diarrhea, depression, joint and muscle pain, rashes, memory loss and insomnia.
Thousands of Gulf War veterans have complained of such undiagnosed maladies.
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- Others believe the illnesses could be
related to exposure to nerve gas or a combination of PB and an insecticide.
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