More on the Israeli anthrax vaccine experiment on soldiers

From the Jerusalem Post

From the AP

Excerpts from today's Ha'aretz:

Dr. Reuven Porat, who chaired the medical committee, told Haaretz the panel had not been presented with any official documentation that shows the decision to develop, test and produce the vaccine had been authorized by the government. Similarly, there was no authorization presented from the defense minister, who is charged with responsibility for the Institute for Biological Research, and not from the IDF, and there was no proof the chief of staff was consulted about or agreed to the project...

In its report the panel is highly critical of the "secrecy" imposed by the managers of the experiment and ask "whether the secrecy was necessary because the experiment was to be hidden from the Israeli public."

The medical panel noted: "Selecting soldiers as the population for the experiment prevented achieving the declared aim of the experiment, which was to examine its safety and effectiveness in broad use among the general civilian public, the elderly, women, children and sick patients," the committee wrote.

From YNet come these excerpts:

Israel has admitted to developing a vaccine against anthrax, fearing it might be used as a bio-weapon by enemy nations against civilians, and tested it on IDF soldiers. "Once we face a substantial threat, we would be able to vaccinate all citizens, ranging from babies to the elderly, and protect them against the virus," a senior defense source told Ynet. (But the report indicates Israel already had a large enough stock of vaccine for its population prior to beginning this trial--Nass) From PressTV: Some of the soldiers, who say that the experiment has had life-threatening side effects for them are now filing a lawsuit against the Israeli Army, Haaretz reported... Israeli Physicians for Human Rights have also filed a lawsuit against the army over the experiments.