Medical panel: Anthrax experiments on IDF soldiers were unjustified By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Anthrax vaccine experiments conducted on Israel Defense Force soldiers in the early 1990s were unjustifiable, states a report, compiled by an official medical committee, and authorized for publication on Wednesday.

The experiments, carried out by the IDF's Medical Corps and the Nes Tziona Biological Institute, meant to determine the efficacy of an Anthrax vaccine.
The experiments were carried out in light of what was then defined as the "strategic threat of a surprise biological attack facing Israel." However, "the committee was unconvinced," the report said, "that the need for a vaccine was duly considered by decision makers. Also, it is not clear who the decision makers were who determined the vaccine's necessity."
The experiment, nicknamed "Omer 2," was held during the first part of the 1990s and included 716 IDF soldiers picked out of a pool of 4,000.

Following a three-month legal battle in Israel's High Court of Justice, the report was finally approved for publication Wednesday.

The report on the experiment was drafted by a special committee of doctors, a legal advisor, and a scientist from the Weizmann Institute of Science

The committee was assembled following a request made by the IDF Medical Crops, and with the court's go-ahead. The High Court also accepted the request of Defense Ministry's security chief and ordered a few central paragraphs of the report be stricken as a result of national security concerns.

The Chairman of the medical committee, Dr. Reuven Porat, told Haarestz that the panel was not presented with any official evidence indicating that either the government, the defense minister of the IDF chief of staff had authorized the development, testing, or production of the vaccine.

However, the committee did hear oral testimony claiming that then Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin ordered the production of the vaccine and that his successor, Shimon Peres, upheld that decision.



The only official document viewed by the committee that "dealt with the experiment" was written by the deputy Defense Minister.

The report insinuates that drive to hold the experiments was motivated by foreign incentives. However, the report states that the committee "could not make out the true motivations."

The report reveals that even while the experiment was taking place Israel already had a stock of vaccines, a fact which further raised the concern that the experiment wasn't necessary that it was carried out as a result of external pressure.

"An accelerated effort to produce large quantities of the vaccine was underway a year prior to the experiment, and by the time the experiments were launched, Israel had enough vaccines to cover the civilian concerns," the report said.

It was the committee members impression, even though it was not expressed in the final report, that the person who was the driving force behind the experiment was Dr. Avigdor Shafferman, the director of the Nes Tziona Biological Institute and an anthrax specialist.

The committee raised doubts as to Dr. Shafferman's motivations for advancing the experiment. "The committee attempted to determine," the report says, "whether decision makers in the defense and political establishments were pressurized by interested anthrax researchers or research establishments so to bring about the development of the vaccine, regardless of existing strategic threats."
The report sees Dr. Shafferman's refusal to appear before it as the reason for its inability to definitively answer those questions.

The Medical Corps and the IDF were cooperative and sent representatives to appear before the committee.

(note from blogger):
PHR-Israel played a crucial role in uncovering this experiments on IDF soldiers.