Anthrax and War: The Marketing of Disaster

chapter 36 www.thedoctorwithin.com

ANTHRAX AND WAR:

THE MARKETING OF DISASTER

- Tim O'Shea

“This is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you to the truth.”

- Morpheus The Matrix

In this chapter:

Anthrax as an issue

Anthrax as a disease

Anthrax as a weapon, developed in the 1950s by US scientists

Antibiotics: Cipro, penicillin, and doxycycline

Side effects of Cipro

Superbugs and Alexander Fleming

Anthrax vaccine - after 50 years, still unproven and untested

The politics of anthrax vaccine

Anthrax vaccine - what do the real experts say?

Bioport - the Saudi connection to American military politics, The Golden Goose

Bioterrorism: threat vs. reality

Oil - the true value of the Afghanistan invasion

Congressional hearings - Feb 1998

Smallpox: the next chimera

Bill of Rights

US military against Americans

No more media

rue to the principles set forth in the chapter Doors of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything, I try to avoid newspapers and TV as much as possible, mainly because it's obvious that that is NOT what is going on in the world. Global affairs are certainly much more complicated, multilayered, with a thousand more points of view than the ridiculous Media stories that focus on one or two extremely basic "facts," eschewing subtlety in favor of black and white.

Even so, I could not avoid watching CNN for a couple of hours on a recent Sunday. It was an interminable documentary supposedly to show what was going on in Afghanistan. But all we saw were a few shoeless Afghanis riding their mules in the mountain wastelands of Afghanistan, armed with what had to be the oldest rifles known to man. And it went on and on and I'm thinking OK we have all these thousands of UN troops and all those ships and the most sophisticated war gear in history assembled somewhere in the vicinity of Afghanistan, for the invasion, right? So, like where is the army? Where is the enemy? Why are we watching this endless footage about these ragged nomads, like they had something to do with blowing up the WTC or something. Or like they're our target, and killing them is going to solve everything.

So I guess we're supposed to believe what, that our real enemy the Taliban terrorists who set up 9/11 are hiding out in caves somewhere making calls on their cell phones to their colleagues on the east coast, directing the anthrax mailings. And bin Laden is like the fox of the hunt and just as soon as we find him, America will be vindicated. And that's why we need all these troops, and it's going to take months to check out all the mountains, etc., right? It's getting vaguer by the day, but I guess that's pretty much the morning line.

And then it occurred to me to simply apply the principles from the Doors of Perception to this situation, and it came a little clearer into focus. OK so if this is the smokescreen, then what is it that's being covered up?

How are we being distracted? We're being distracted by what we see most of in the news. Just like always. Like Sherman McCoy in Bonfire of the Vanities, it's not about portraying the factual truth. It's about dinner. And these days dinner is served, and we're having war and anthrax.

And smallpox for dessert.

In the creation of public opinion on most subjects, there is always the underlying financial upside. Propaganda - Edward L. Bernays - spin control (Doors of Perception - thedoctorwithin.com - a prerequisite to this chapter). There's big money in the hysteria surrounding anthrax - big money for Bayer, producer of the dangerous antibiotic Cipro, and big money for Bioport the Saudi-owned holder of the exclusive contract to produce anthrax vaccine in the United States. Big money for new vaccines.

And bigger money in war.

EVERYBODY'S AN AUTHORITY

The subject of anthrax has brought all sorts of experts with columns and websites out of the woodwork, lords of hearsay and unsubstantiated conspiracy and hallucination, many working for syndicated news services, exhibiting the full spectrum of wacky contentions:

- George W engineered WTC so that a war could boost the economy

- the drug companies are sending anthrax spores to mailrooms and Congress in order to

create a demand for anthrax vaccine and antibiotics

- bin Laden indirectly owns the anthrax vaccine company

- the FBI knew about 9/11 beforehand but let it happen anyway

as well as some likely ones:

- a few people have died from inhaling anthrax spores

- someone is trying to terrorize the American people

- no one really knows what is going on

These days anyone can claim anything. Actually anyone can prove anything now - all they have to say is that their source is speaking "on condition of anonymity." What a ridiculous new device. Or else that they have such a great journalistic reputation that readers will believe them without references. When did all these tenured journalists become such primadonnas that they think people actually take their uncited, unsourced ruminations seriously? Fortunately, most people buy newspapers for the sports and movie sections, being as sensitized to the daily war scores as they are to advertising.

THE OLDEST PROFESSION

Crowd control. Media is the only business in the world that gets to pretend it isn't a business. They maintain this supercilious air of selfless dedication - of uncompromising responsibility for 'reporting the truth.' Please! Like there are no depths to which they wouldn't stoop to jangle just one more nerve ending from a story. To serve their advertisers, media has one focus only: to keep readers in a perpetual state of fear and uncertainty so that they will be sure to tune in tomorrow or to buy tomorrow's paper to see if things got worse. And what kind of news sells most? Right - bad news. If it's bad today, it's gotta be worse tomorrow. So if nothing bad enough really happened today, then the main story will seek to foster some unformed fear about what very likely might be happening soon that will be even worse than the actual bad stuff going on now. Generally they'll wreak the worst possible scenario from any given situation.

Leo Tolstoy nailed it over a century ago:

“All newspaper and journalistic activity is an intellectual brothel from which there is no retreat.”

- Letter to Prince V. 1871

But we digress. For now let's consider the two new issues separately: anthrax and war.

With anthrax, what is the popular perception that has been crafted since October 2001? Well, let's see - some white powder has been mailed to a bunch of offices and some people have died from anthrax. Because they didn't get ahold of Cipro soon enough. And now we're all at risk because terrorists want to kill all Americans. And more outbreaks are likely soon. And that to be on the safe side, we should take Cipro 'just in case.' And maybe the vaccine, if we can find any.

In this chapter we will hold a little different standard from the popular press by asking, what can really be verified about what is going on lately with anthrax? We will leave paranoic theorizing to the journalists - servants to the commandment that the primary goal of media is to perpetuate fear and uncertainty from one day to the next.

ANTHRAX THE DISEASE

Let's start from the beginning. What is anthrax? According the most recent Merck Manual, a standard medical text, anthrax is a

"highly infectious disease of animals, especially ruminants, transmitted to humans by contact with animals or their products."

- Merck p 1157

It is infectious, but not contagious. Causative agent: Bacillus anthracis - a gram positive anaerobic bacterium. Standard medical knowledge of the disease is sketchy. That's probably because anthrax is so rare. Until lately, there have only been 18 cases in the past century. (Associated Press, 8 Oct 01)

Although rare as a naturally occurring disease, anthrax has been intensely studied as a bioweapon since the 1940s. FDR set up a center for developing bioweapons at Camp Detrick, Maryland. The program was headed up by none other than George Merck, drug czar. After years of experimentation with anthrax, a method for inducing spore encapsulation was invented. In this way anthrax the disease was crafted into anthrax the weapon. (Broad) And not by Islamic terrorists. We created anthrax the bioweapon. In Maryland.

In the 1950s, our scientists produced thousands of gallons of 'weaponized' anthrax. Operating out of Fort Detrick Maryland for two decades, a group of scientists led by Bill Patrick succeeded in:

testing experimental anthrax on hundreds of soldiers and prisoners, with or without their consent

killing some of their own workers in testing unknown germs

spraying American cities like San Francisco, St Louis, and New York with

experimental germs to monitor how they would spread (Cole, also Christopher)

forcing the anthrax bacillus and smallpox virus to convert into spores,

thus creating weapons that can be stored for decades

aerosolizing germs so they could be sprayed

developing an arsenal of germ agents, including anthrax and smallpox

These facts are referenced in Miller's new book Germs, and in several more legitimate sources. Although this book is generally a confused, overblown narrative of drug industry propaganda, written in that style of feigned omniscience that is customary with journalists writing about scientific issues they don't understand very well, it does point to some valuable sources.

The above listed facts did take place, and can be verified by collateral references. It is true that in 1969, for political reasons, Nixon officially brought the US bioweapons research program to a close. Although biological research went out of favor as far as lavish funding was concerned, up until the present time, we find out that stockpiles of anthrax that were supposed to be destroyed were not. And also that the research went on, disguised as "defensive" in nature. What a big surprise. Gee, you mean the army and the CIA weren't up front with the public?

Even after the Biological Weapons Treaty was signed in 1972 by more than 100 nations, the US and Russia continued to develop and stockpile anthrax, and still do. (Germs p 63)

When engineered into a weapon, the anthrax bacillus is protected by spores which can exist in the soil or in animal products for decades.

According to the recent Merck Manual, there are 3 ways humans can get the disease

skin

eating infected meat

inhaling spores (Woolsorter's Disease)

Funny thing is, in this medical text (Merck) the same paragraph says that inhaled anthrax is "often fatal" and "almost always fatal." Recent events have proven both wrong.

This is typical of medicine's approach to anthrax. Despite boatloads of ink used up on the topic of anthrax, 99% of it is from the popular press. Very little legitimate scientific research has been done about the cause and cure of anthrax, especially the biowarfare version. Even from our "experts," estimates of how many spores are necessary to cause the disease vary so widely that it's obviously guesswork. Dr. Meryl Nass states that the infective dose for inhaled anthrax is "a million spores." Yet in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the estimate is between 8,000 and 50, 000. (Franz) Conclusion: we really have no idea.

Let's talk about the two supposed treatments for anthrax: antibiotics and the vaccine.

ANTHRAX ANTIBIOTICS

According to Merck, the following antibiotics have traditionally been the treatment of choice:

skin anthrax pulmonary anthrax

penicillin streptomycin

tetracycline penicillin

erythromycin

cipro

chloramphenical

These are listed in order of preference, with the most harmful choices listed last. Now there are a couple of odd things here. First of all, notice that as of 1999, Cipro is not even on Merck's list for the inhaled version. It was a only fourth choice for the skin version. Reason: the prodigious amount of side effects listed on p 850 of the 2001 Physicians Desk Reference for Cipro:

NVD phobia hearing loss

rash intestinal perforation hemolytic anemia

palpitations GI bleeding high triglycerides

fainting jaundice high cholesterol

hypertension damage to wt. bearing jts. seizures

heart attack nephritis tendon rupture

thrombosis urethral bleeding exfoliative dermatitis

hallucinations nosebleeds manic rx

dizziness pulmonary embolism blurred vision

Some of these can be fatal. Probably the only antibiotic more dangerous than Cipro is chloramphenicol, as any drug rep will tell you.

Therefore it seems odd that suddenly in September 2001 the media just upgraded Cipro to the #1 choice for anthrax. Why did they do that? Because Bayer, Cipro's manufacturer is a huge patron of media advertising? Not that the media would be swayed by financial concerns, of course not... Cipro sales are up 1000% since 9/11. (New York Times 21 Oct 01)

Remember Baycol, the killer cholesterol drug that was pulled off the market earlier this year after at least 32 people had died from it? (The Baycol Recall) That was Bayer. Remember IG Farben - the German drug giant under Hitler? ( Horowitz) That's also Bayer. A very classy company, always with the interests of human health first and foremost.

The other odd thing is that in the same PDR where the above side effects are catalogued, there's a whole list of bacteria that Cipro is supposed to be used for. But anthrax bacillus isn't one of them. And in fact all the ones listed are aerobic bacteria. Anthrax is anaerobic. Isn't that odd?

Now, Cipro was only recently put on the list for inhalation anthrax by the FDA, in Aug 2000. (Enserink)

Going back to the 1991 Gulf War, each soldier was given a 5 day supply of Cipro -- like that would do something. (Miller p 119) Since then, Cipro has stayed in the driver's seat with respect to military opinions on anthrax antibiotics. In typical military tunnel vision, the terrible side effects of Cipro are not even considered. Nor the fact that efficacy has never been determined for humans younger than 18. (PDR)

But it's only in the military that Cipro has been the preferred antibiotic for anthrax. Elsewhere it's always been penicillin and doxycycline. So why the fanfare over Cipro?

Many scientists are wondering the same thing lately. In the 26 Oct 01 edition of the journal Science, there's an article titled "Researchers question obsession with Cipro." The article calls Cipro a "drug manufacturer's heaven." Fort Detrick official CJ Peters remembers right before the Gulf War when he was deciding which antibiotic to give to soldiers for anthrax, the decision went to Cipro because of its limited success with test monkeys, and because Cipro was the newest antibiotic. The reasoning there was that the Iraqis might have created a new strain of anthrax that was resistant to older antibiotics like penicillin. Just a hunch - no real evidence. But today, 10 years down the road, Peters says that newness has worn off and Cipro is no better than the other less harmful, less expensive antibiotics.

But whether it's Cipro or penicillin or doxycycline, the biggest deception by the unlettered press is that people are safe taking any antibiotics just on the suspicion that they might possibly have been exposed to anthrax. This is the conventional wisdom that has been created by a hundred media pieces per day. Such a perception is erroneous, unscientific, and extremely dangerous.

Antibiotic resistance is always the Demon to be feared in any mass campaign of preventive antibiotic administration. In The Post Antibiotic Age (thedoctorwithin.com) we learned that the discoverer of penicillin himself Alexander Fleming, warned against the creation of superbugs from the very beginning. That chapter should be reviewed to understand the issues of natural selection of superbugs.

Superbugs don't just happen naturally. Superbugs are created by indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Anthrax presents two particular dangers in this respect:

1. it's almost a brand new disease among humans and therefore at first will be very susceptible to standard old-fashioned antibiotics, like penicillin and doxycycline. This initial effectiveness may cause undue expectations of lasting success.

2. since the anthrax bacillus is encapsulated in a spore, it can remain in the lungs for weeks after being inhaled, without escaping that protective covering. During this time the subject would not react - no immune response, no inflammatory response. Now if a patient were known to be exposed to anthrax and prophylactic antibiotics were begun and continued for several weeks, see the danger? As the millions of inhaled spores gradually come open a few thousand at a time, like time-release capsules, the same strain of anthrax would be exposed to the same antibiotic over a period of time. This is a perfect textbook scenario to encourage slight mutation of the microbe in order to survive the everpresent never-changing antibiotic. The patient becomes a walking Petri dish, and this month's lab assignment is to evolve a superbug. Ideal set-up.

The current recommended duration of antibiotic therapy for inhalational or cutaneous anthrax is

60 days. (Lane -- JAMA) The reason the course is so long is that spores may remain in the lungs for weeks before opening up. Actually the 60 days is just an estimate - we really don't know how long the spores can remain in the lungs.

This recommended dosage does seem to have been effective, however, because there have been no cases of anthrax among those who have taken the preventive doses of antibiotics in the offices in which anthrax exposure may have taken place. But the question remains regarding the advisability of creating unnecessary antibiotic resistance. Would a life-threatening infection have taken hold in the absence of these antibiotics? In how many cases? With a 40% fatality rate, what is the wisdom of waiting till the disease manifests, weighed against creating antibiotic resistance? Nobody knows.

Remember - anthrax is a new disease. Antibiotics have their greatest effect when diseases first appear.

Many postal and government workers today are clamoring for 'protective' antibiotics. In all, over 30,000 people have taken prophylactic doses of antibiotics since 9/11, because of "possible" exposure to anthrax! (Lane) And because of the robotic media, there is an outcry for more millions of doses to be manufactured in case of outbreak of an bioterrorist attack. Yak yak yak.

There's a little problem with all these individuals taking antibiotics at this time. Most of them have not even been exposed to anthrax. So if they continue to take unnecessary antibiotics, what will happen to their immune systems? Several things:

1. they will destroy all their body's natural flora, primarily in the colon

2. by starting with the most dangerous antibiotics, the risk of side effects is much higher

3. in the unlikely even that they do inhale some anthrax spores, the above mentioned

resistant mutations may be created by the constant antibiotics

In a few years or less, individual resistance to antibiotics will become species resistance. That's why so many people are resistant to penicillin today. The infectious agents have evolved; only the mutants survive. For some of these modern germs, penicillin is like a trip to Baskin-Robbins.

A University of Flagstaff study has already been looking for Cipro-resistant strains of anthrax. The chief researcher, Dr Paul Keim, says he has a paper "ready to go" at present but that he's holding onto it for now. Such altruism - actually puts national security before his own career. (Science, 26 Oct 01)

No matter what you read in the illiterate, pandering media, remember this fact: antibiotics have always had, and still have, only one proper application: the life-threatening infection. Not colds, not sniffles, not just-in-case anything. A life-threatening situation. Period.

Cipro is not the solution to disaster; it's the marketing of disaster.

WHAT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ANTHRAX

At present 10 people have contracted inhalation anthrax and 4 have died. (Lane - JAMA) All were treated with antibiotics - a 40% mortality rate - making new inroads in our very sketchy knowledge of this disease:

"The fact that 6 of these patients have survived provides hope that the published mortality rates of 86% to 97% for inhalational anthrax may not be accurate in the year 2001.."

-- J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 2001;39:85-100

With this relatively rare new disease, real life is ahead of research here. So just our current experience brings the mortality rate down to 40%. Now of course this wasn't a real clinical study and 10 people aren't a very large sample. But this is a vivid demonstration of the difference between scientific theory and reality.

ANTHRAX VACCINE

Anthrax vaccine was first developed by the US government at the Fort Detrick facility in the 1950s. (Miller, p 86) The US bioweapons program was at its peak at that time. At a facility in Lansing Michigan, millions of doses of anthrax vaccine were produced and stockpiled. The original vaccine testing at that time was done on monkeys. Results were inconclusive (Germs, p99)

Very quietly, anthrax vaccine was first licensed by the FDA in 1970 (Nass, Saga) even though it still was extremely "reactogenic." To apply for license approval, the Michigan company used the same untested vaccine developed by Merck in the 1950s.

Then in 1969, Nixon sought political currency by proposing a treaty to ban bioweapons research worldwide. The US stated by this treaty that it would never use biological weapons under any circumstances whatsoever. (Christopher in JAMA) Looked great in the papers for a few months but the bottom line was that everybody signed the treaty and then continued to store the old stockpiles of deadly germ weapons, and to quietly research new ones. That's when George Bush ran the CIA, remember?

Before the Gulf War, anthrax vaccine held little interest. A 1985 review by the FDA concluded that:

"“Immunization with this vaccine is indicated only for certain occupational groups with risk of uncontrollable or unavoidable exposure to the organism ... Inhalation anthrax occurred too infrequently to assess the protective effect of vaccine against this form of the disease.”

- Nass, Saga

Then suddenly in 1988, the army wanted enough vaccine to inoculate all military personnel. The only licensed manufacturer of anthrax vaccine was still that state-owned facility in Lansing Michigan. The company promised it could produce enough vaccine in 5 years in cover all US military.

SELLING ANTHRAX TO IRAQ

Iraq began its buildup of anthrax in the 1980s. They bought their starter germs from a company in Manassas, Virginia called American Type Culture Collection, continuing to do so as late as 1988. (Gulflink.org, 28 June 88; Germs, p 88) This company had obtained the anthrax samples as a result of original research done just up the road at Fort Detrick in the 1950s. American Type Culture (phone number 703 365-2700) specialized in variants of the original diseases - stronger versions.

Now why would we sell a lethal biological agent to Iraq, you might wonder. Because up till the late 1980s we considered Iraq an "ally" more or less - a buffer power between us and Iran. In CIA-speak, Iraq was an 'asset.' And their money was as green as anyone else's.

Surrealistically, it wasn't until 1989 that the US decided to stop biological weapons to foreign countries, including Iraq. (Miller p 89)

But they could still sell to any red-blooded American. In 1995 an Ohio civilian bought 3 vials of plague bacteria for $300 from this same company. (Danzig - JAMA) Get the picture? Economics rules, as always.

Getting back to Iraq here, in 1991 during the Gulf War, the CIA and the army began to freak out because they thought that Iraq had at least 3 biological agents ready to go as weapons. (Sanctity, p 125) And where did Iraq get these bugs from? From us, of course. Yes, Iraq had the agents, but turning biological pathogens into weapons is something very sophisticated -- something only an advanced nation like the US could figure out. At that time, there was no evidence that Iraq had learned how to turn these agents it had purchased from us into mass weapons. (Germs, p105)

Nevertheless, DoD (Dept of Defense) paranoia fueled the panic to force vaccines on soldiers, even though Iraqis never used germ weapons. A lot of anxiety was created and the issue of vaccines became a political issue between the generals and the FDA. There was an absurd amount of disagreement between the top brass: Schwarzkopf, Griffith, Cheney, Powell, etc. After the usual blustering, politicking, and measuring of external genitalia, the FDA finally gave DoD the OK to use the unproven, untested vaccine for anthrax, even though it was still in the experimental stage after 30 years, and even though it was known to be useless against the type of anthrax agents the Iraqis supposedly had. (Rockefeller) Moreover, the vaccine was never licensed for aerosol exposure, which is the way that bioweapons are deployed. (p190 Miller)

Result of this collective idiocy with no one driving the bus: 80,000 cases of Gulf War Syndrome. (Rockefeller)

This is the exact type of reasoning and the exact same people that are bringing anthrax vaccine back today.

After the vaccine was approved, the original dosage recommendation was 6 shots over 18 months, which remains today. Why? Nobody knows. It was complete guesswork. ( p 190, Miller)

THE SCIENCE OF ANTHRAX VACCINE

One expert on anthrax vaccine is certainly Meryl Nass, MD. Dr. Nass is an internationally acknowledged authority on biological warfare, and for the past 15 years has been extensively quoted and published in the top medical journals all over the world. From her very thoroughly documented website http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/ we find out the scientific and economic aspects of anthrax that we're not seeing in the daily Matrix media. Anyone who expects salvation from anthrax vaccine is directed to that site for a reality check. A few of the highlights from Dr. Nass:

Before the Gulf War, the FDA permitted manufacturers to keep rotating old vaccine stocks from 1970. This includes anthrax vaccine.

Anthrax vaccine is an "investigational" vaccine. By FDA regulations, doses of investigational vaccines never expire!

The lots of vaccine produced by the Michigan facility are inconsistently powerful - some lots may be as much as 40x stronger than other lots!

The FDA did not require efficacy in humans in order to license anthrax vaccine.

The Department of Defense has spent $150 million studying Gulf War Syndrome. None of those studies even looked at the possibility of a connection between anthrax vaccine and Gulf War Syndrome even though that was one of the 3 vaccines given to Gulf War personnel.

The DoD said that it was impossible to do a study like that because "all records have been lost."

Dr Philip Pittman of Fort Detrick found that 44% of personnel who received anthrax and botulism vaccines had systemic reactions.

Kathlerine Zoon, the Director of the FDA's CBER, and the one who has final say in approving military anthrax vaccine recently stated:

"After these vaccines are licensed and administered, the safety and adverse reactions should be assessed."

Appalled by this cavalier, irresponsible attitude of an FDA director, Dr. Nass states:

"Ignoring Federal law, Dr. Zoon is suggesting that biowarfare vaccines be licensed and used on humans and only afterwards should their safety profile be ascertained. Should the military be given carte blanche to field biowarfare vaccines and then determine whether they cause adverse reactions...?

"Dr. Katherine Zoon, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at FDA, who is in charge of assuring that federal laws are followed and that public health is protected with respect to vaccines, has forgotten where her primary responsibilities lie. For advocating that vaccines be administered before their safety and adverse reactions are known she should immediately lose her job. "

- The Anthrax Vaccine Saga

In a Mar 2000 report to the DoD, the Institute of Medicine admitted that the few peer-reviewed studies on anthrax vaccine in humans did not evaluate adverse effects from multiple doses. Great news. So where are the studies substantiating the need for the current recommendation of 6 doses in 18 months? There are none!

HARMFUL ADDITIVES

One little item most researchers omit is the presence of a potent neurotoxin - aluminum hydroxide - in the only anthrax vaccine that now exists. (J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 2001;39:85-100) The implications of injecting aluminum directly into the human bloodstream were discussed at length both in Blaylock's book Excitotoxins as well as in The Sanctity of Human Blood. Many of the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome correlate exactly with well-known side effects of this neurologic poison.

Another scary component of anthrax vaccine is squalene, likely a biotoxin, which was a big media issue for several weeks. Notice how all that came and went? Well the squalene didn't. Squalene is an unapproved adjuvant discovered in the anthrax vaccine given during the Gulf War. Work done at Tulane University by virologist Robert Garry, PhD actually used squalene antibodies as a marker for Gulf War Syndrome. (Metcalf) Congressman Jack Metcalf exposed the DoD's efforts to hide the presence of squalene in anthrax vaccine from the public. As it sparks an immune response, squalene has been correlated with arthritis and neurological problems through a mechanism of autoimmunity. (The Extra Pharmaacopeia, p 233)

*****************************

VACCINE MONOPOLY

Keep in mind that since 1998 one company has the exclusive license to produce anthrax vaccine for the military: Bioport.

Dr Nass points out some annoying data about Bioport's current inventory of anthrax vaccine:

"All 6-7 million vaccine doses now held by Bioport have up till now been

unapproved for human use. They fall into one of the following three categories:

1. Lots which the FDA quarantined because of significant manufacturing lapses, which include among others inadequate potency, contamination by gasket material and lack of sterility (and they may be up to eleven years old, having expired several times and been redated with only cursory testing)

2. Lots for which former Secretary of Defense Cohen ordered 'supplemental testing' to assure potency, purity, safety and sterility--and which failed this test battery on at least two occasions. These lots also may be up to eleven years old.

3. Lots which were produced by the pilot plant after it was rebuilt, but during a period when FDA did not approve the procedures used. This led to some vaccine being sent to Washington State for bottling, as Bioport's bottling suite could not assure sterility. But some lots were bottled in Bioport's unacceptable suite. These lots are up to two years old. "

- 1 Nov 01 Anthrax Bioterrorism Meryl Nass MD

Before we take a closer look at Bioport, it may be helpful to have just a brief overview of

THE POLITICS OF ANTHRAX VACCINE.

When we read the daily nonsense in the paper about the necessity for anthrax vaccine, one fact is conveniently left out: the original 1970 FDA license for the vaccine given to the Michigan facility drew no distinction whatsoever between the skin form and the inhaled form of the disease. In other words, the vaccine wasn't licensed FOR anything; it was just licensed. (Gilbreath)

It is also inconceivable that no federal agency is doing any research whatsoever to understand what is wrong with the vaccine, nor are there any studies currently under way to learn about the post-vaccine illnesses and how they can be treated.

After the Gulf War vaccine disasters, the political controversy waved back and forth all through the mid 1990s about whether or not to keep vaccinating the armed forces. Yak yak yak. The rationale was never about health complications, side effects, or whether the vaccine worked.

In 1995 Gen Ron Griffith, vice chief of the army, was against anthrax vaccines, not because they were dangerous or ineffective but because it would make alliances with other countries more difficult - you know, 'our guys are protected and yours aren't' kinda thing ... (Miller p 195)

As we will see, the entire notion of anthrax vaccine has been totally political and had nothing to do with science. Why? Because in reality there has never been nor is there now an effective vaccine against weaponized anthrax. It doesn't exist, and it almost certainly will never exist. The reason is simple, as Dr. Nass explains - the enemy can simply alter the strain of the germ agent slightly by genetic engineering. This will defeat the vaccine.

Even Congress figured that out:

"The anthrax vaccination.. is a well intentioned but overwrought response to the threat of anthrax as a biological weapon.... their reason for the inadequacy of anthrax vaccine: gene splicing to create vaccine-resistant strains of anthrax." (Burton, Apr 2000)

Six months later the Pentagon itself saw other problems with the vaccine. A 2000 study at the National Academy of Sciences, requested by the Pentagon, concluded that there was insufficient and inadequate evidence to be able to tell whether or not anthrax vaccine caused long-term health problems. All the pertinent science totaled only "a few short-term studies." (Institute of Medicine, 30 Mar 00) The study stated that the Pentagon had been relying all this time upon incomplete research done on 1500 employees of Fort Detrick in order to decide if the vaccine were safe and effective. Suddenly they noticed after all these years that they forgot to ask the subjects questions about long-term symptoms! In addition, they didn't question anyone who had left the company.

This fact flies in the face of the pompous claims made in a recent issue of JAMA (12 Nov 01) about the vaccine's proven efficacy in humans: those Ft. Detrick employees are the same ones JAMA cites!

But politics never lets a little thing like physical reality stand in the way when there's power and money involved. Since the time of Edward Jenner, vaccines have been a source of massive revenues, especially in situations involving groups of people with little or no rights, such as military personnel.

BIOPORT - THE GOLDEN GOOSE THAT LAYS NO EGGS

Let's take a quick look at who this Bioport is, and see what kind of an outfit would buy a state-owned operation with a 7-year track record of failure. After 7 years of problems, the state of Michigan considered the Lansing facility a losing proposition, overburdened with problems. Michigan was very happy to unload it to Bioport in 1998.

Considering the facility's past, it's amazing that anyone in his right mind would view the production of anthrax vaccine as a good business venture. It's more than amazing: it's highly suspicious. For starters, the facility had not produced any vaccine since the Gulf War. Why not? Because they could never pass the periodic FDA inspections for safety, purity, and production protocols.

For example, anthrax work was supposed to be done at Biosafety Level 3. What they were doing could scarcely pass level 2. (Miller p 199) Such safety levels are illustrated in Dustin Hoffman's 1996 movie Outbreak.

When the demand for anthrax vaccine was raised by the military in 1991, they approached every one of the pharmaceutical companies for help. No one wanted to take it on because the army would not indemnify the producer of the vaccine. This is why by 1998 the Michigan facility still held the only contract: no one else wanted it.

A 1997 FDA report on the Michigan facility shows numerous violations, including

§ rusting equipment

§ failure to clean and sanitize utensils

§ dead insects in clean room

- Nass - Saga

Exactly who is Bioport? The current CEO of Bioport is Fuad El Hibri, a Saudi national. Most of the stock of the company is owned El Hibri's family. This is not a joke, and can be easily verified by checking the citation below wherein El Hibri identifies himself to the 106^th Congress.

El Hibri is at the top of a huge Saudi conglomerate, diversified into many areas of commerce, controlling billions of dollars. So why would an internationally savvy billionaire want to take a chance on this disaster of a company, a venture that all the pharmaceutical companies themselves had turned down when pursued by the US military? Well let's see if we can piece this little puzzle together.

The DoD decided to start vaccinating all military personnel again in 1998, using the same anthrax vaccine from the Gulf War. The exclusive contract to produce that vaccine was transferred to Bioport, just before that decision came out.

Such a contract with Bioport would generate at least $60 million over a five year period. In order for the Saudis to get wind of the amazing opportunity before it took shape, they needed an insider. In Apr 1999, ABC News ran an article that reported that the founder of Bioport was Former Joint Chief of Staff member Adm. William Crowe, who holds 13% of Bioport's stock. (Rosenberg) Crowe obviously had connections at the Pentagon to alert him to their new decision to vaccinate for anthrax. Crowe and El Hibri - the ancient marriage of military and industry - till death do us part.

The Pentagon finally resumed vaccinating all US troops for anthrax in March 1998, after talking about it for 7 years. (p 244, Germs )

What kind of volume are we talking about? Since 1998, the U.S. military has administrated 2.1 million doses of the vaccine to 521,000 people, said Army Lt. Col. John Grabenstein, deputy director of the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program Agency. A full vaccination requires six doses administered over 18 months. Eventually, the Pentagon expects to vaccinate 2.3 million service members, Grabenstein said. (CNN, 26 Oct 01)

Now if the state-owned facility had been unproductive for all those years, and if Bioport itself has not produced any salable doses then where did all these doses come from? The scary answer: stockpiles. Old stuff. This is one reason why there have been over 400 personnel who have refused anthrax vaccine no matter what the consequences. By mid 2001 hundreds of reserve pilots quit the military rather than be vaccinated for anthrax. In addition, over 400 military personnel faced courtmartial, imprisonment and discharge rather than take the anthrax vaccine. In all there were 51 court-martials. (majorbates.com, Miller p 269)

Not that Bioport cares one way or the other about the fate of the recipients of their vaccine. A recent report by NBC news (Avila) pointed out:

"Adverse reactions to anthrax vaccine, even fatal ones, are not investigated by Bioport."

OK, we can see the money motive for Bioport taking over. But what about the production problems? A 1998 FDA inspection at the time of purchase turned up shortcomings in every stage of production. Why did Bioport think they could succeed in meeting vaccine quotas when Michigan state had been unable to produce for all those years?

This is the brilliant part - one really has to admire Bioport's genius and resourcefulness. They don't have to produce. They would operate at a loss, make excuses, and get subsidies from the military to tide them over. And they could still keep all the old vaccine stockpiles from the original facility because by law, investigational drugs never expire. And since approval is only politics and not science, eventually all these pesky FDA inspections would get ironed out and they could sell the bogus lots. Hell, the vaccine can't possibly work anyway, so what difference does it make what's in it?

Subsidized by the government, founded by a professional troughsman, Bioport knew how government facilities should act: shuck and jive, delay, and make excuses. And ask for handouts. And that's exactly what they did.

Since they took over, Bioport has been plagued with "production problems." They have consistently failed to pass every FDA inspection, for reasons such as hygiene, safety, purity, efficacy. An amazing list of original FDA inspection reports can be viewed at http://www.gulflink.org/Vaers/inspection.htm

Again, since 1998 Bioport has not produced one saleable dose of vaccine. Until very recently when the shots were suspended, the military were receiving the old stockpiled doses. A 26 Oct 2001 article from CNN reported the CDC stating that Bioport's current stock

" of vaccine equals "about 10,000 doses."

- Cohen & Garrett

That same CNN article has Bioport making the ridiculous promise to produce 1 million doses of anthrax vaccine in the next year! Considering this company's track record, Bioport has about as much chance of meeting that quota as Michael Jackson has of winning the Preakness.

As with any unregulated organism, these "production problems" continued unabated. Finally, the total disregard for FDA protocols led to suspension of anthrax vaccine production in 2001. At that time all doses were coming from old stock - Bioport still hadn't produced even one dose.

You keep reading all these details about anthrax vaccine in Dr. Nass's research, in Rep. Burton's Congressional investigation in 2000, and in Miller's book Germs and it finally dawns on you: obviously there is some big financial motivation to keep funding this company as long as it remains unproductive. The less it produces, the more money it gets. Who would benefit from such a set -up? Gee, let's think about it...the owners, the stockholders, the employees, the middlemen in the float transactions ...it's millions. The history of the production of anthrax vaccine since the Gulf War reads like a treatment for a new Coen brothers movie.

Administration of the vaccine is slated to resume very soon into 2002, but don't hold your breath. It's the standard formula with any government operation: keep emphasizing the importance of the program, the threat of disease, and that the only solution is to continue subsidizing the illusion of future production. Poetry in motion.

BIOPORT'S BOTTOMLESS TROUGH

So where does the money keep coming from? Partly from the DoD's Joint Vaccine Acquisition program, which was set up by Congress in 1997 with an initial funding of $322 million. Since its inception, some 40 or 50 vaccines have been under discussion for military personnel - it's big, big business. (Nass, Saga) Being one of the 3 vaccines from the Gulf War, and especially in view of its recent limelight, anthrax vaccine is at the top of the list for its share of the pie.

Back in Aug 1999, after again failing FDA inspections for numerous violations of hygiene and procedure, Bioport was given $24 million