Gulf War Mystery and HIV
By Paul M. RodriguezAs officials repeatedly have lied about the relationship of squalene to gulf-war
illness, Insight has pursued the truth, uncovering HIV tests for an AIDS vaccine
using the adjuvant. http://www.insightmag.com/archive/investiga/gulf3.shtml
The mystery of why antibodies to a polymer compound called squalene show up in sick
Persian Gulf War veterans has taken yet another strange twist. The Pentagon -- though
continuing to deny it used such an experimental medicine during the war -- now admits to
using it in human experimental programs involving an anti-HIV vaccination.
. . . . Dale Vesser, a retired Army general, was the first
Pentagon spokesman to admit in response to Insight articles that the Department of
Defense had squalene and used it in recent experimental medical tests on about 50 soldiers
to test an antimalaria vaccination. At the time, mid-August, Vesser claimed that was the
only Pentagon usage of squalene.
. . . . Because such adjuvants can result in serious
unintended consequences for the immune system, it takes years of laboratory testing and
reviews before they can be moved into stages of experimental human testing.
. . . . The revelation by the Pentagon that it is conducting
human experiments with squalene involving an anti-HIV vaccination program -- but only on
civilians, it says -- comes months after Insight first reported the strange
discovery of squalene antibodies in the blood of sick gulf-war vets. The only possible
medical cause for squalene antibodies being in the bloodstream, according to scientists in
and out of government who commented for Insight, is inoculation or immunization.
. . . . The human body contains minute amounts of squalene, a
substance thought to be involved in the production of cholesterol and in "oils"
that keep skin soft. As with virtually all naturally occurring substances in the human
body, it is theoretically possible for the body to create antibodies that attack even
internally produced substances. However, there are no such cases in conventional medical
texts, according to immunologists.
. . . . That's why the discovery of squalene antibodies in
preliminary tests on sick gulf vets -- tests that are nearing completion and scheduled for
publication -- is so unusual and potentially ominous. That's why Insight began
asking the Pentagon and other government agencies if they gave any squalene-based medicine
to soldiers during the gulf war. What inspired the original Insight expose was the
strange coincidence of sick soldiers who received inoculations and immunization shots and
were deployed overseas as well as sick soldiers called up for duty who were given the
shots but never left the U.S.
. . . . When the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs denied using
or even having squalene, the mystery of that preliminary discovery of those antibodies
took on the feel of a good detective story. How could something show up in the blood of
sick soldiers -- and even contractors who received shots -- when the government said it
never administered such a drug? The search for reasons was delayed for many weeks by
government denials even as more sophisticated tests began to confirm preliminary results.
. . . . Insight at first was told squalene was not in
the government's arsenal of drugs -- then discovered it had been used in experimental
medical trials at the National Institutes of Health involving cutting-edge herpes
vaccines. Suddenly the story line was that, yes, it's used there -- but nowhere else. Insight
discovered that it was used at the Army's Walter Reed Medical Research Center -- then
the story line was that, yes, it's used there -- but only recently and only for an
experimental malaria-vaccination program. When Insight discovered it has been used
at Walter Reed for HIV research, the cover story moved to yes -- but only in laboratory
work involving animals.
. . . . Insight next discovered that Walter Reed
actually manufactures a pharmaceutical-grade version of squalene. Now the magazine has
been told that is done for private firms working with the government to develop
experimental programs involving vaccinations for herpes, malaria -- and, separately, for
HIV research projects involving possible new AIDS drugs.
. . . . Finally we learn that the Pentagon -- by and through
Walter Reed, among others -- has been engaged in human testing programs involving an
anti-HIV vaccine using squalene as the adjuvant in concert with private firms through a
cooperative program funded by the Pentagon. In fact, according to high-level military and
intelligence sources, the Pentagon has been working for years to find an anti-HIV vaccine,
employed military doctors to work in such programs and is working with other countries,
including Thailand, on clinical anti-HIV trials not authorized in the U.S. for humans.
. . . . Many of those same military doctors working in the
anti-HIV vaccine programs have jumped ship to work for private foundations and companies
that perform contract work for and on behalf of the Pentagon at U.S. military facilities
following congressional cuts in military appropriations for direct AIDS research.
. . . . As the search continues for the reason antibodies to
squalene (natural or man-made) are showing up in sick gulf-war vets, these questions are
emerging: Did the Pentagon do something it hasn't yet admitted? Why doesn't the Pentagon
assist in finding out how something that isn't supposed to be in sick soldiers got there?
What was mixed with a possible squalene adjuvant that might be causing or contributing to
the illness?
. . . . Congressional investigators from veterans, armed
services, intelligence and government oversight committees are beginning to ask these
questions -- questions that no one who knows wants to answer. In public.