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DATE=4/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ANTHRAX STUDY (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260956
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 
INTRO:  In a new report, U-S scientists say they don't 
know if a vaccine against anthrax causes any long term 
health problems - even though millions of members of 
the U-S military have been ordered to take the shots, 
and several hundred have refused, citing health 
concerns.  V-O-A's Jim Randle reports from the 
Pentagon.
TEXT:  A panel of doctors and scientists at the U-S 
Institute of Medicine, which is part of the National 
Academy of Sciences, says the few available published 
studies are either flawed or don't address long term 
health concerns.  They say, so far, they found no 
evidence that the vaccine is unsafe.
The researchers say they hope to examine other studies 
nearing completion soon to draw clearer conclusions.  
They also suggest long term monitoring of large groups 
of people who have received the vaccine, and other 
research. 
Defense Secretary William Cohen has ordered all two-
point-four-million active duty and reserve members of 
the U-S Military to take the inoculations, and 420-
thousand people have gotten one or more doses. 
Marine Major General Randy West, who heads a Pentagon 
effort to counter biological warfare, says few 
vaccines get the kind of long-term scrutiny described 
by the Institute of Medicine.  He points out that the 
Food and Drug Administration has tested the anthrax 
vaccine and approved it. 
Scientists say anthrax is a deadly disease that is 
easier to turn into a weapon than most other germs, 
and that a number of hostile nations have programs 
underway to create just such biological weapons.
General West, who led troops in the Persian Gulf War, 
says Iraq had deadly germ weapons available back then. 
            /// MAJOR GENERAL RANDY WEST ACT ///
      We uncovered small-unit leader's notebooks that 
      proved to us that they had weaponized anthrax on 
      the battlefield in Iraq and Kuwait, ready to 
      shoot at our forces.  They never used it. 
            /// END ACT ///
He says if Iraqi forces had used anthrax, he would 
have lost many `young men and women in battle' because 
`they were not protected' by vaccine.  
But the combination of germ threats and the official 
assurances have not been enough to convince everyone 
in the U-S military to take the vaccine.
Several hundred, dubbed `refusnicks' in the press, say 
they won't take the shots, and some have been thrown 
out of the service or punished in other ways. (Signed)
NEB/JR/TVM/gm
04-Apr-2000 19:11 PM EDT (04-Apr-2000 2311 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.