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Military denies that illness of pilots, crew caused by squalene

A former Dover Air Force Base commander says military officials used his troops as guinea pigs in illegal medical experiments under the government's controversial anthrax vaccination program. After some of his troops in their 20s and 30s began developing arthritis, neurological problems, memory loss and incapacitating migraine headaches, Col. Felix Grieder took a drastic step. In 1999, he halted the vaccination program in Dover, a move he said ended his military career. The decorated Air Force colonel has spent the past five years trying to discover the truth about the vaccine program in Dover, where he commanded 4,000 troops. "In my opinion, there was illegal medical experimentation going on," says Grieder, who lives in Texas. Grieder has interviewed scores of his former pilots and crew who say they have had life-altering reactions to the vaccine. "They would have no reason to lie. I believed them," he recalls. "I wanted to talk to them face to face." Dover is now ground zero in the controversy because troops there were injected with anthrax vaccine containing squalene, a fat-like substance that occurs naturally in the body. Squalene boosts a vaccine's effect, but some scientists say injecting even trace amounts of it into the body can cause serious illness. [more

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