Shameless Experimentation on Wounded U.S. Soldiers Fighting in Iraq

Despite wonderful advances like the natural blood clotting bandage made with shrimp shells for soldiers fighting in Iraq, the U.S. Military is playing a dangerous game with the health of our most seriously wounded troops, according to this awesome series of articles in the Baltimore Sun.

NovoSeven, a blood coagulant approved by the FDA in 1999 only for treating patients with rare forms of an inherited hemophilia, has been used to treat more than 1,000 American soldiers in Iraq and 300 Israeli soldiers, even though no large clinical trials have been launched to test its true effect.

While some trauma doctors consider NovoSeven "a rare breakthrough," many hematologists and blood specialists suspect the drug may be creating blood clots that lead to stroke, heart attack and death. The cause of the problem: A desperate, overzealous military searching for any good news coupled with a few corporate backers "who have no sound evidence the drug works or is safe," according to the Baltimore Sun.

The opinion among blood experts jives with a FDA warning issued nearly a year ago that giving NovoSeven to patients without hemophilia can be deadly (43 deaths were blamed on clots, mostly non-hemophiliacs) and signs of its unusual and deadly side effects being seen by doctors treating wounded soldiers evacuated from Iraq in military hospitals.

Every time I believe the drug company cartel has reached in a new low in foisting toxic drugs on an unsuspecting public, they amaze me with new excuses that harm the very people fighting for our own country.