The Department of Defense is investigating whether 80 wounded US service members in Iraq were used improperly as test subjects for a treatment for brain injuries.

The study, sponsored by San Diego’s United States Naval Medical Centre, was designed to test whether a drug designed for treating Tylenol overdoses could also be used to reduce the harmful effects of traumatic brain injury, such as brain function problems and balance loss. It is not clear whether anyone was hurt as a result of administration of the drug. The US Navy is also conducting an inquiry into both alleged research misconduct and potential violations to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. All research has been frozen for the time being.

The delay has incensed Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, who has been briefed privately on the study. He said the preliminary results suggest the treatment could be helpful. “The irony is that the safeguards [to protect human test subjects] are blocking, it seems to me, the quick implementation of an intervention that could help mitigate the disabilities that result from the signature wound of the war,’’ said Kennedy. Kennedy is urging the Department of Defense to release the study or arrange for its review by a panel of neuroscientists who can judge whether the findings warrant further investigation. ~ Boston Globe, Aug 3