In 1998, I moved to Washington and decided not to leave until I attained my health and freedom. By health I meant a return of my energy: physical, sexual and mental. By freedom, I meant almost everything freedom is equated with: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.My ability to retain attorneys and see physicians of my own choice had been seriously compromised. When I couldn't retain an attorney after being hit by a car while crossing the street, I felt like Rodney Dangerfield. "I got no respect." More important, I couldn't also retain an attorney to address the improprieties of my father's multi-million dollar estate. Twelve hours before my father died, a will was issued that was not signed by him because he was "unable" to sign his name. (For more information about my father's estate,please see the sidebar. Control of my money limited and stilllimits my ability to defend myself)
Returning to Washington DC and staying was my form of sit in. During these years, I researched the Post World War II human experimentation programs at the National Institute of Health's libraries, the Library of Congress and the National Security Archives. I placed advertisements in The Hill newspaper on subjects I researched: herpes, ritalin, anthrax, nerve gas, gulf war syndrome, MKULTRA. http://www.healthycitizens.com/east_west.htm . My strategy was to speak out on significant subjects with facts that could not be refuted. I did not only research subjects that directly affected me but tried to understand the medical concerns in post World War II United States. It was my hope that establishing my credibility would enable me eventually to address the programs affecting me. My 2001 Ritalin advertisement in “The Hill” showed 1973 NIH and NIMH sponsored studies where Ritalin provoked increased psychosis and mania.in individuals diagnosed with those conditions. http://www.healthycitizens.com/east_west.htm#ad20010627 In 2007, the FDA required labeling on Ritalin and other adhd products warning of this possibility. At the time that I placed "The Hill" advertisement no book on Ritalin discussed this study.
I received almost no replies, which I still find hard to accept. I took strong stands; leading academics and journalists conceded my research was good. I was researching subjects that affect millions of Americans. Still, I believed the advertisements would ultimately be effective establishing a record of my beliefs and experiences. If I had remained in the United States, it was my intention later to investigate Ritalin's use as a "truth drug" to facillitate interrogation It was also my intention to investigate not only pharmaceuticals but the researchers like David Jandowsky(ritalin) and David Grob(nerve gas) not because they were unethical but because their research interests would show a bigger pictures of the health concerns in the early post World Warv II period. I was also interested in Ritalin's use with LSD in psychiatric treatment and the history of the development of both drugs in Switzerland.
MY GULF WAR SYNDROME, PROJECT MKULTRA ADVOCACY AD
I thought Congress would be interested that I had experienced some of the Gulf War veterans symptoms in the mid 1970's. My belief there was a connection between my experiences and Gulf War Syndrome became stronger when physicians began to diagnose the veterans' condition as a disturbance of vagus nerve and hypothalamus, My belief became even stronger after I discovered in John Marks' National Security Archive boxes Henry Beecher's 1954 document postulating that post traumatic stress disorder could cause disturbance in the endocrine system http://healthycitizens.googlepages.com/HenryBeacherAndStress.pdf.
"The effect of these physical, physiologic, pharmacolgic and mental factors andFor those interested in cognitive neuroscience, Henry Beecher and the post early World War II period is the place to begin study.
the interrelationship of these factors on neuropsychiatric disorders, especially
the nonspecific effects of stress which may be mediated by the endocrine system
through the pituitary-adrenal axis. must be thoroughly investigated before any
logical approach to the prevention and treatment of medical conditions can be
accomplished."
In an October 2, 2002 ad I published in The Hill. I asked, "Is There a Connection Between The Gulf War Syndrome and U.S Chemical and Biological Programs? Gulf War Syndrome's Links with Project MKULTRA." http://www.healthycitizens.com/east_west.htm#a20021026 .
I stated:
"In the early 1970s I developed symptoms similar to GWS. In my Hill ads I have argued these programs never ceased which may explain why the names of the researchers and their victims have not been released."
I asked:
1. ISN'T IT TIME TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER AMERICANS EXPERIENCED GULF WAR SYNDROME SYMPTOMS IN THE 1960S AND 1970S?
2. ISN'T IT TIME FOR ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO RELEASE THE NAMES OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCHERS AND SUBJECTS INVOLVED IN THE MKULTRA PROGRAM?
No one was interested in my health experiences even if they might assist 150,000 veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome. It didn't matter my physician at the time of my illness in 1975 was involved the previous 5 years with studies on the effects of toxins on hypothalamus and immune system. The more I learned about United States medical research programs, the harsher my reception became on Capitol Hill, finally culminating this year with the comment by a legislative aide of a leading congressman that what I wrote was only an advertisement I placed in the Hill and therefore not worthy of discussion. I queried, "Isn't placing ads what lobbyists do?" and asked him to state what he said in an email to me. Although he agreed. I never received a reply despite the fact I made it clear to this legislative aide that I was in considerable trouble. I won't name him because I still hope he'll see that his response was wrong. I have no alternative but to allow him to save face.
"Don't ask, Don't tell" is not only a policy for gay service in the military. It is what is expected of citizens and citizens go along as ifthey should always do as told. That is the reason I have an interest in Stanley Milgram's obedience studies. If democracy is to survive, we need to understand what governments know about our nature.
As a consequence, citizens wuth "politically incorrect" concerns are often dismissed as "conspiracy theorists" as if there were never conspiracies in the history of the United States. The misinformation enabling the Iraq War is an obvious example of conspiracy. Is someone a conspiracy theorist if he asks why was the Great Depression academic Ben Bernanke chosen as Federal Reserve Chairman in 2006? Isn't it important to know whether some in Washington had an awareness of tough ecconomic sailing ahead? In medicine is someone a conspiracy theorist if he asks, as I have in "The Vagus Nerve Is A Hidden Network(But Not The Only Hidden Network)", why medical research is published years after the knowledge is known?
In January 2003 I realized the task of nvestigating United States Chemical and Biological programs was humongous and what was needed was a citizen's army. I placed this advertisement:
PROJECT UPLOAD
HEALTHYCITIZENS.COM announces PROJECT UPLOAD whose goal will be the uploading to the Internet of declassified government documents and public domain medical studies pertaining to United States chemical and biological programs. Volunteers wanted to assist in this
My hope was to attract students from universities in the Washington DC. area. As with my other advertisements, there were few replies. Was my failure the result of pathological apathy that has increasingly rendered representative government impotent? Was there also government interference preventing my networking? Without a doubt both played a major role in my not being heard.
IT'S NOT JUST THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Thomas Friedman's New York Times op-ed "All Fall Down" bemoaned the state of ethics in the financial markets. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/opinion/26friedman.html?_r=2&em . Friedman wrote, "This financial meltdown involved a broad national breakdown in personal responsibility, government regulation and financial ethics." It takes the worst economic calamity since the depression to address what should have been addressed years ago. It takes global warming threatening future existence to address what should have been addressed years ago. What crisis will motivate citizens to address the corruption in medicine? Isn't it the same malady? If we address only economic corruption and ignore the other manifestations of corruption, it is very likely there will be a relapse in a relatively short time.
Exposing the corruption in our health system is as important as exposing economic corruption. I used to think the label on Dr Bronner's Casitile soap was cool but it is also very true "Health is our wealth." Not since Senator Estes Kefauver’s has there been sincere questioning. We are 26th in longevity. It is incomprehensible that no political candidate views longevity as a legitimate campaign theme
The corruption in medicine that I document in The Hill News Advertisements and in writings like "The Vagus Nerve is a Hidden Network(But Not The Only Network" doesn't get addressed because not enough people are conscious of how their lives are affected by unethical medicine. The idea that national security prevents the publication for at least a decade of research vital to extend life and relieve suffering is criminal.
Some of my happiest days in Washington were spent at the National Institute of Health's libraries. Even though NIH is implicated in the programs I address, the libaries and the NIH websites are a wonderful means for the public to empower themselves with knowledge. It is only with citizen power that the health system will rid itself of corruption. Marcia Angell, the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and now affiliated with Harvard University Medical School is a very good advocate for research ethics, but if you read the letters to the New Yok Review of Books opposing her, you can't help but hope she will find a way to form coalitions with the public. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22237 No special interest is more powerful than an educated public.
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
There is something very wrong when a country doesn't rally around
1) 150,000 veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome are ignored.
2) Victims of natural disasters like Katrina
3) Retired workers have their health insurance cancelled by corporations they toiled for decades
I knew there was something wrong 30 years ago when nobody cared what was happening to me. I knew something was wrong when I was hindered in my choosing physicians or lawyers . Even in 1998, when I moved to Washington, lawyers and physicians would make appointments and later cancel. I was once told by a Washington DC attorney that no firm would ever take my case because the they would have a “conflict of interest”. In reality their conflict is with the oath they took to uphold the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Many people know of these programs' existence and ignore me and other victims as if they were stepping over a dead animal. Such embarrassed silence must be understood and prevented. It is the same mentality that has occurred when other victims sought assistance. I am not Anne Frank but I am not so sure that most wouldn't be ducking her phone calls or deleting her emails if she were contacting them today. It is the mentality that resulted in the uranium worker Joe Harding. the Paducah, Kentucky plutonium worker who died of stomach cancer writing just before his death "fighting Uncle Sam was like fighting a tiger with a toothpick" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/aug99/paducah11.htm He was later honored posthumously by Congress. I have no need for posthumous honors or Presidential apologies when I am 80 with one foot in the grave. I have a need to tell the truth about programs that have contributed to the loss of United States values and honor. I have a need to tell the truth about programs that have taken my "health and freedom."
Next week I will be 64. I want my health and freedom.
