On June 16th, the Washington Times, which has been following the "Chantix harm to veterans" story doggedly, and ABC News, produced an investigative piece called "Disposable Heroes," about the drug testing that takes place on veterans, sometimes with lethal consequences. That interactive piece is linked here. (Ironically, earlier this week, we posted an entry about veteran' similar exposure, this time from the Vietnam War, that is still coming to light. That post is linked here.)
Here's the lead from the Washington Times' story, by Audrey Hudson:
The government is testing drugs with severe side effects like psychosis and suicidal behavior on hundred of military veterans, using small cash payments to attract patients into medical experiments that often target distressed soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan...
In one such experiment involving the controversial anti-smoking drug Chantix, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) took three months to alert its patients about severe mental side effects. The warning did not arrive until after one of the veterans taking the drug had suffered a psychotic episode that ended in a near lethal confrontation with police.
If you want to find other entries in the Washington Times' extensive coverage of Chantix and veterans, use this link here, which will produce a list of the articles, or go to their website, linked here, and do a search for "Chantix". Be forewarned, however. Although the information on the website is well worth learning, the Washington Times has an especially cumbersome user interface, irrespective of browser. Get ready to enable popups, and then, even so, only be able to pull up the stories with great difficulty. Someone really needs to improve that...)
