Julio Godoy
PARIS, Jan 9 2006 (IPS) – The French army administrated an illegal drug to its soldiers during the first Gulf War in 1991 without informing them of the risks, according to evidence presented at a judicial inquiry.
The drug, Modafinil, kept the soldiers awake for days, according to documents presented before a judicial inquiry into the Gulf War syndrome . The inquiry was launched by the public prosecution office in June 2002 to establish responsibility for illnesses suffered by French soldiers in Iraq.
The drug was administered to some 1,000 French soldiers who participated in the war against Iraq.
I and many comrades were given the drug every eight hours under orders from our commanders, Yannick Morvan, a veteran of the 1991 Iraq campaign told IPS. I am ready to give my life defending France, but that does not mean that I am ready to be used as guinea pig against my will.
Other veterans say the commanders never spelt out what kind of drug the soldiers were being given. The unit commanders that gave us the drug never told us what we were taking and what risks we were running by doing it, a sergeant serving in the French army, and who did not want to be identified, told IPS.
The army decided to test Modafinil in Operation Dauphin in June 1990, two years before the drug was due for authorised distribution. In an internal note in January 1991, military authorities said the drug could only be used outside national territory , and only with the utmost discretion .
The French army violated national and international rules on testing drugs that say that no test can be carried out without written consent of those taking the drugs, victims of the drug say.
The drug contributed to several conditions that are seen as a part of the Gulf War syndrome.
The Gulf War syndrome was first identified by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in 1994 after thousands of troops returning from Iraq complained of numerous unexplained symptoms.
It is defined as having a set of symptoms that continue for more than six months, such as fatigue, mood and cognitive symptoms such as loss of sleep or memory, concentration disturbances, headaches and depression, and musculoskeletal pain.
The French army denies any wrongdoing. The defence ministry says use of Modafinil could in no way be described as a test.
Daniel Gautier who served as head of the military medical department in the early 1990s said at a hearing that on the war field, military medical personnel wrongly believed that they were carrying out a therapeutic test.
Maurice Schmitt, who was commander-in-chief of the armed forces between 1987 and 1991 told a parliamentary inquiry commission earlier in November 2000 that he had not given specific authorisation to test Modafinil. I just left open the possibility to test it, if the need to do it became evident, he said.
Both officers spoke of administration of the drug as a test.
Several hundred French soldiers have lodged complaints against the army for suffering the Gulf War syndrome as a result of being given illegal drugs or due to exposure depleted uranium or to chemical weapons such as the nerve gas Sarin.
The soldiers have created an association, Avigolfe (short for Association of the military and civilian victims of the Gulf War), which claims that at least 31 veterans of the Iraq campaign have died as a result of contamination from illegal drugs or weapons..
The Avigolfe campaign led to the present judicial inquiry. A result is expected in June this year, sources close to prosecutor Marie-Odille-Bertella Geoffroy told IPS.
Guy Paris, legal counsellor for Avigolfe says soldiers still in service are reluctant to talk about their health difficulties for fear they could be expelled from the army.
Many soldiers wait until they have 15 years of service to get access to full pension before they present their pleas, Paris told IPS.
Similar inquiries have been going on in the United States and in Britain for years.
According to the U.S. Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses, an estimated 100,000 Gulf War veterans, or about one in seven soldiers who were deployed in Iraq in 1991, suffer war-related health problems.
The committee was set up by the U.S. Congress in 1998 to make recommendations to the (U.S.) Secretary of Veterans Affairs on government research relating to the health consequences of military service in the Southwest Asia theatre of operations during the Gulf War of 1991.
In a report released in October 2004, the committee concluded that a substantial proportion of Gulf War veterans are ill with multi-symptom conditions probably linked to the exposure to chemical weapons and neurotoxins.
The report said possible sources include Sarin from an Iraqi weapons depot blown up by U.S. forces in 1991, and also pyridostigmine bromide, a drug given to the troops to protect them against nerve gas.
