
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 8, 1994                   TAG: 9412290076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-20   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

GULF SYNDROME, VACCINES LINKED IN SENATE PAPER

Vaccines given to U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf to protect them from possible chemical or biological weapons may be the cause of the mysterious illnesses collectively labeled ``Gulf War syndrome,'' Sen. Jay Rockefeller said Wednesday.

The Pentagon has concluded that no such weapons were used by Iraqi forces in the war. But if they had been, the drugs likely would not have protected the troops who were vaccinated, according to a 53-page report by the staff of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, of which Rockefeller, D-W.Va, is chairman.

The Pentagon did not get consent from many people taking the drugs because of a wartime waiver granted by the Food and Drug Administration. Even with the waiver, however, officials were required to warn everyone of the risk of the drugs but did not, the report said.

And it said some troops were threatened with punishment if they did not obey orders to take the chemicals. Many Gulf War veterans also were ordered to tell no one about their vaccinations, the report said.

Rockefeller compared use of the drugs during the Gulf War to gas chamber experiments involving sailors and soldiers in the 1940s, radiation experiments from the 1940s to the 1960s and LSD experiments in the 1960s.

Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner declined immediate comment Wednesday, saying the department had not seen the report.

But last May, Defense Department officials denied that the drugs were used for experimental purposes.

by CNB