Illnesses after Israel anthrax test
Troops reportedly suffered tumours and infections after anthrax vaccine programme.
Published On 15 May 2007
Deadly disease
He told Israel Radio that the vaccine programme had been ordered amid fears of an anthrax attack by Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, and because foreign-made vaccines were not available.
“It seemed clear that the Iraqis would use it [anthrax] against us,” he said.
“It is not possible to buy abroad a large quantity of vaccine, which exists only in the United States or in England.
“Therefore the state of Israel had to develop its own vaccine.”
Anthrax is a deadly bacterial disease and its spores can be used in germ warfare to infect victims.
Israel’s defence ministry said in a response to the programme that the military had conducted “research in the context of protecting the state of Israel’s populace against a strategic threat”.
The United States has long required that its troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea be vaccinated against anthrax.
Source: News Agencies