Editor
Ottawa Citizen
1105 Baxter Road, Box 5020
Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3M4

Dear Editor:

Congratulations on the Stephen Bindman story, "I'm only asking for the truth". The Citizen continues to be the paper that has most carefully reported on the mefloquine problem.

The Department of Health and the military brass have again succeeded in covering up what they knew about the neuro-psychiatric side-effects associated with mefloquine use in the Canadian military.

The Minister of Health has refused to explain to Parliament why military doctors were allowed to illegally prescribe mefloquine to Canadian soldiers and why no action has been taken against them. In fact the Health Protection Branch went on to hire the military doctor who was responsible for the illegal use of mefloquine.

The military brass appear to have kept hidden from the Veterans Review and Appeal Board what military doctors knew -- the problems with mefloquine both in the pre-intervention relief phase and during the military phase in Somalia that they had detailed to the top brass.

During the relief phase of the Somalia mission in 1992, military doctors reported "intolerable side effects from mefloquine, including...insomnia, headaches, depressed mood." During the military phase of the mission in 1993 they reported "patients experienced nightmares, with one patient having feelings of unease and paranoia."

Clayton Matchee may have been the first Canadian soldier to attempt suicide as a result of mefloquine but he was not the only one. Cpl Scott Smith committed suicide in December of 1994 while on duty in Africa. He too had been illegally administered mefloquine in Somalia and had the all too familiar side-effects.

According to a senior doctor at DND headquarters, Smith "had a history of hallucinations during his last tour in Somalia, which he related to the antimalarial drug that he was taking." An investigation into the suicide of Scott Smith explored the role of mefloquine "as a possible contributor to Cpl Smith's state of mind and suicide.

I doubt the Veterans Review and Appeal Board was given all the facts.

Yours sincerely,