Judges Halt Forced Military Anthrax Shots

[Guest guest]

The Pentagon must stop forcing servicemen and women to take the

anthrax vaccination against their will, unless President Bush signs a

special order, a judge ruled Monday.

 

Millions of shots have been given and hundreds of service members

have been punished for refusing them since the mandatory vaccinations

started in 1998.

 

The judge ruled that the anthrax vaccinations fell under a 1998 law

prohibiting the use of certain experimental drugs unless people being

given the drug consent or the president waives the consent

requirement.

 

Congress passed the law following fears that the use of such drugs

may have led to unexplained illnesses among veterans of the 1991

Persian Gulf War that have come to be known as Gulf War Syndrome.

 

" The women and men of our armed forces put their lives on the line

every day to preserve and safeguard the freedoms that all Americans

cherish and enjoy, " said Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States

District Court in Washington.

 

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031222/D7VJJ4LG1.html