Degree of Risk

As Operation Desert Storm was being planned, a deeply concerned Defense Department pressured the FDA to issue a waiver for experimental drugs to be given to soldiers who fought in the war. They claimed such action was necessary to protect the troops from Sadaam Hussein’s use of biological and chemical weapons. In a memo from The Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army pronouncing guidelines for the “Use of Volunteers in Research”, he states, “The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.” In Josef Wilson’s novel Degree of Risk, Attorney Lisa Lambert must attempt to uncover the truth about Gulf War Syndrome, and obtain justice for its victims. By taking the job has she exceeded her own degree of risk?