The US congress heard a series of testimonies that the military's mandatory anthrax vaccinations are not safe, are making people sick and should be halted or made voluntary immediately.

• The congressional hearing follows the recent death of a worker, Richard Dunn, at the Michigan plant of the vaccine supplier, BioPort Corp., possibly as a result of the series of anthrax shots he was receiving.

• A medical examiner has said that the death was an "inflammatory response" to the vaccine.

• The company says that the doctor who performed the autopsy ruled the death of Richard Dunn could not be linked to the vaccine.

Dunn's wife, Barbara, testified to Congress that "a lot of people have been made sick by the vaccine" and urged that the military inoculation program be made optional. "Nothing can be done to bring my husband back, but I ask this committee to please rethink this program and make it a safe one," she said.

"I and my fellow service members who have been sickened by the anthrax vaccine come to you, our elected representatives, for help," Maj. Jon Irelan told the House Government Reform Committee at a hearing. "Please don't abandon us."

Irelan said he was feeling fine before he received his fourth shot of anthrax vaccine in October 1999. However, by the next day he began to suffer a long list of symptoms:

• Weight gain
  
• Facial hair loss
  
• Shrunken testicles
  
• Mood swings
  
• Loss of strength.

His condition improved after he began taking regular testosterone shots. The Army maintains that there is no connection between the vaccine and his illness.

"If you suspected that giving any medication or shot to your son or daughter would risk hurting them, would you hand them the pill or inject them?" Senior Airman Thomas Colosimo asked lawmakers.

He told the panel he developed multiple cysts on his skull, suffered repeated blackouts and had been unable to work or travel since the onset of his condition after he received the vaccine.

Several witnesses complained that military doctors had misdiagnosed their illnesses in an attempt to keep them from pointing a finger at the vaccination program.

Republican Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, whose subcommittee recommended earlier this year that the program be made voluntary until an updated vaccine was developed, said he had "come to doubt the judgement, the foresight and the competence" of the Pentagon's stewardship of the program.

Charles L. Cragin, a principal deputy undersecretary of defense, told the panel that 13 studies had established the vaccine's safety, and that the Pentagon would move ahead with the program, as the threat from anthrax continued to grow.