Archive photo
Photo: Tal Cohen
Petition: Stop medical experimentation on soldiers
Physicians for Human Rights says severe failures found in Anthrax vaccine experiment conducted on IDF soldiers between 1999 and 2006. Attorney: These days it is more difficult to experiment on animals than on humans
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) filed a High Court petition on Thursday calling for an end to medical experiments being carried out on IDF soldiers and the establishment of an external committee to investigate the matter.
A second petition on the matter was filed by a group of soldiers represented by Attorney Boaz Ben-Zur. The soldiers are demanding that they be recognized as casualties of the experiment.
PHR's petition was filed based on the group's findings regarding the "Omer 2" experiment aimed at finding an Anthrax vaccine, which was conducted on some 800 soldiers between 1999 and 2006.
The organization's study found severe failures in the experiment, mainly during registration and the tracking of the soldiers' condition during and after the experiment.
According to PHR, the soldier's were presented with false information regarding the safety of the vaccine, which was developed in the US. In addition, due to the experiment's confidentiality, the soldiers' were not given the opportunity to consult sources outside the army based prior to signing the waver.
"These days it is more difficult to experiment on animals than on humans," said Attorney Michael Spharad, who filed the petition on behalf of PHR. "The existing orders in the IDF make it easier to conduct medical experiments without proper supervision."
