07/08/2008- The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs will appear before Congress tomorrow to answer questions about why his administration continued to recruit veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan for studies of pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side-effects. The controversial tests were the subject of an ABC News/ Washington Times investigation last month.
Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, including former US Army sniper James Elliott, were recruited for government tests on the anti-smoking drug Chantix, which has been linked to suicide.
In one of the human experiments involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, VA doctors waited more than three months after a statement was issued by the Food and Drug Administration before warning veterans about the possible serious side-effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.
In the meantime, a new report out in today's Washington Times says that doctors at the VA began raising red flags as early as last year about Chantix, prompting a quiet investigation last fall.