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STORY: Former Houstonian Joyce Riley has become an influential voice for veterans' rights and issues through her leading involvement with the American Gulf War Veterans Association. Her message bears warning to those currently involved with or considering military service.
Riley served as an Air Force flight nurse traveling between Cuba and Alaska, and although she never was deployed to the Middle East, she experienced symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome. She attributes these symptoms to a series of 10 inoculations she received as requirements for her service. In her subsequent quest for answers, she found little information forthcoming, taking it upon herself to learn as much as she could about what was happening to the thousands returning from the gulf with mysterious symptoms. What she found was a history documenting more than 50 years of surreptitious human experimentation. "The U.S. government has been involved in doing these human experiments for a long period of time. In fact, let me just read you one statement here. Now, this comes from an actual Senate hearing that we were not supposed to get a copy of because it only went to those that were the committee members. It says that during the past 50 years, hundreds of thousands of military personnel have been involved in human experimentation and other intentional exposures conducted by the Department of Defense often without the service members' knowledge or consent." Riley with the American Gulf War Veterans Association comments on this history with disbelief. "This is incredible to think that this has been going on for 50 years. Hundreds of thousands of our military people involved in these experiments." Despite the post World War II agreement known as the Nuremberg Code, which restricted governments from participating in unethical human experimentation, Riley points out a U.S. law on the books that actually allows for this to happen to American citizens. "If you go to title 50, United States code annotated, title 50, chapter 32, section 1520a, you're going to be shocked. Because the Department of Defense has the right to experiment on you without your consent for a number of reasons. Some of those reasons involve the testing of biological agents, or to protect you from biological or chemical agents. For riot control; for any research: therapeutic, agricultural, you name it [any] reason. They've got it covered there, they can experiment upon you without your consent. So this is blatant violation of everything this country stands for, but people don't know about it, they don't know that this law has been enacted and that it has been codified in law to make you an experimental animal." What this history has brought to U.S. citizens and former veterans is the reality of misinformation and insufficient treatment upon their return from war. The Web site for the American Gulf War Veterans Association displays disturbing photographs that examine the mistreatment some veterans have experienced in light of experimentation. "Now the Gulf war veterans have bad rashes. But the Department of Defense is not treating them, they are not giving them the antibiotics that would be effective." One such veteran was Scott Siskin who developed a rash common to Gulf War Veterans. Scott never left the VA hospital where he was treated after 97 percent of his skin was removed per the doctor's recommendations. His family later discovered his death was the result of a new breed of experimental skin the doctors wanted to try out. "And they removed 97 percent of Scott's skin. And his mother is the one that asked us to put that picture on the Web site. And you can imagine how painful that was for his mother to do that. But she said 'we've got to tell the world what is going on. They have got to know what has happened to their sons and daughters.' And unfortunately, that's the kind of treatment they got when they come back. Unfortunately, our veterans through all wars have been kicked to the side of the curb like dead animals. And they have tragically been left to flap in the breeze by themselves, and we want that stopped. And we want the experimentation stopped." Riley and others continue to try to get their message about the first Gulf War out in time to prevent what could happen to current military personnel. For information about the American Gulf War Veterans Association, that documents our veterans' concerns, visit www.gulfwarvets.com. Erica Hall, KPFT News, Houston.
E-mail Erica Hall at erica_h90@hotmail.com .
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