Thread by @StuartMcCarthy_

In this tweet, @RSLNSW President @captainbrown & the RSL shred their little remaining integrity in relation to Australia's mefloquine & tafenoquine veterans. He has blocked most of us but you are welcome to read & RT this thread as to why & how.
#TafenoquineRC #OzVeteransVote

Mefloquine & tafenoquine have been given to around 5,000 ADF personnel, mainly during a series of unethical drug trials involving 2,850 ADF troops in Bougainville & East Timor from 1999 to 2002.
vimeo.com/239093288

Officials from @USArmy @wrair, developer of both drugs, admit 1000s of ADF troops were needed as guinea pigs for commercial purposes, i.e. to get tafenoquine registered by @US_FDA & @TGAgovau.

"We were completely naive, because we were desperate."

https://twitter.com/StuartMcCarthy_/status/1090937080807452673

The mefloquine & tafenoquine drug trials breached the most fundamental human research ethical standards incl the need for informed consent of subjects. According to @jcaligari, CO 1 RAR during the trials:

"... there is not - informed consent in the ADF."

tinyurl.com/y2v5d63l

The quinoline antimalarials (incl mefloquine & tafenoquine) are known to be neurotoxic, able to cause quinoline encephalopathy, or "quinism"; lasting or permanent brain damage with chronic, neuropsychiatric symptoms typically misdiagnosed as "PTSD".
springer.com/us/book/978303…

Quinism has destroyed the lives of many hundreds of Australian mefloquine & tafenoquine veterans, and their families. The federal govt incl @DeptDefence & @DVAAus has been in denial for two decades, refusing to provide proper care for those affected.
vimeo.com/238923318

In Sept 2015 we met with @RSL_National & @RSLNSW execs in Sydney, first of a series of meetings with the RSL. Dr @RoderickBain2, then RSL Principal Medical Advisor, became a strong advocate for affected veterans & families, incl efforts to find research $.
mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-1…

For his efforts in supporting some of Australia's most seriously ill, disabled veterans (central to RSL charter) Dr @RoderickBain2 was sacked from his RSL Principal Medical Advisor role by @RSL_National President Ken Dooolan, who also covered up RSL fraud.
mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-1…

Dr @RoderickBain2 was replaced by Dr Graeme Killer as the RSL Principal Medical Advisor. As a paid @DVAAus contractor, Dr Killer continues to interfere in the cases of mefloquine & tafenoquine veterans, actively impeding proper diagnosis & medical care.

https://twitter.com/DVAAus/status/948051097201000449

Despite the RSL undermining our efforts, we have continued to lobby the govt at the highest levels, to provide improved care for those affected by mefloquine & tafenoquine poisoning, one of the key factors in the alarming veteran suicide rate.
heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/p…

In June 2018 we met @captainbrown's father-in-law @TurnbullMalcolm, providing him with a brief including evidence of criminal misconduct by senior ADF officials involved in the tafenoquine drug trials, requesting him to establish a Royal Commission.
skynews.com.au/details/_57945…

Since becoming @RSLNSW President, @captainbrown has repeatedly refused to meet not only with affected veterans & families, but one of the world's leading experts in this field: neuroscientist & neurotoxicologist Associate Professor @JaneCQuinn1.
dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/3…

When asked why @RSLNSW did not make a submission to the recent @AuSenate inquiry into the use of mefloquine & tafenoquine in the ADF, which received more than 100 submissions from affected veterans & families, his response was:

"It's too technical."

aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_…

Worse, when @RSL_National was asked to appear at the @AuSenate inquiry into quinolines in the ADF, the chair asked if the RSL:

"had representations from veterans who have taken mefloquine or tafenoquine?"

Despite numerous meetings, the answer was "no".

tinyurl.com/y3h7axcw

Now we turn to the $2.1 million for mefloquine & tafenoquine "health checks" announced in the #auspol budget, in the context of a $500 million @AWMemorial expansion & the need to "move beyond the memorials and the monuments" to give veterans the "practical support they need" ...

... and the context of the race between @GSK & 60 Degrees Pharma for a @US_FDA "Priority Review Voucher" (valued at up to US$350M, say AU$500M) for the first to register tafenoquine (the 60P application based on the @AustralianArmy drug trial results) ...
ceocfointerviews.com/interviews/60D…

... and the context of the @TGAgovau quietly approving 60P Kodatef (tafenoquine) *during* the @AuSenate inquiry into the unethical @AustralianArmy
drug trials (in which the RSL denied having met with us), despite reports of brain damage & suicide ...

https://twitter.com/StuartMcCarthy_/status/1111811787937087488

... and the context of #Biocelect announcing the arrival of it's first shipment of 60P Kodatef (tafenoquine) in Sydney, *the day before* @DVAAus announces $2.1M "health checks" for veterans affected by quinoline (mefloquine & tafenoquine) poisoning.

https://twitter.com/7NewsTownsville/status/1107776092062965760

The $2.1M @DVAAus "health check" program for mefloquine & tafenoquine veterans was devised by the same doctors who conducted the unethical @AustralianArmy drug trials in Timor, denying the harmful effects to facilitate @TGAgovau
registration of Kodatef.
townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/antimalar…

Veterans who access this $2.1M @DVAAus mefloquine & tafenoquine "health checks" program continue to be dumped in psych wards, w/o referral to brain injury rehab specialists, drugged for "treatment resistant PTSD" or given electro-cunvulsive therapy (ECT).
vimeo.com/239018083

The RSL & @captainbrown
are failing miserably to fulfil the 1st object of their constitution:

"assist and care for the sick, elderly and needy by providing, or assisting in the provision of, pensions, accommodation, medical treatment, rehabilitation and other forms of welfare"

The RSL & @captainbrown are failing miserably to advocate for mefloquine & tafenoquine veterans & their families, among the most seriously ill, vulnerable people in the Australian veterans community, who continue to experience medical abuse in @DVAAus funded health facilities.

Even worse, the RSL & @captainbrown yet again perform their cynical role as a fig-leaf for continued @DVAAus & @DeptDefence denials, inaction & continued abuse of those seriously ill, vulnerable veterans & their families.

The RSL has once again proven itself to be a dysfunctional, moribund organisation, unwilling and unable to support the urgent medical & other needs of the very people it's constitution requires it to support. @RSLNSW President @captainbrown should hang his head in shame.

Should @captainbrown wish to restore the integrity of his moribund RSL, he would immediately & publicly call for #auspol PM @ScottMorrisonMP to establish a Royal Commission into one of the worst scandals in modern ADF history.
#TafenoquineRC

https://twitter.com/StuartMcCarthy_/status/1112120374525743104

/ends