An inquiry by the US government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) into Havana Syndrome - the seemingly mysterious illness that struck down American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba and then around the world - has been halted after it was found the study's participants had been coerced into taking part.

On Friday CNN noted some CIA staff previously claimed they had been strong-armed into getting brain scans and other tests done on them to determine what was apparently harming their health. Only by taking part in the research study would those workers be eligible for receiving medical care, it was reported.

A CIA spokesperson told CNN it takes "any claim of coercion, or perceived coercion, extremely seriously and fully cooperated with NIH’s review of this matter, and have offered access to any information requested."

The NIH confirmed to The Register on Monday it had stopped its Havana Syndrome study out of "an abundance of caution" after an independent review concluded some level of "coercion" took place, which broke the research agency's ethics rules. Reading between the lines, what the CIA staffers said, if true, would be coercion in NIH's eyes at least.

In their statement this week, the institutes said in March they "initiated an investigation in response to concerns from participants who were evaluated as part of a study on anomalous health incidents, the results of which were published in the journal JAMA.

"The investigation was conducted by the NIH Office of Intramural Research and the NIH Research Compliance Review Committee, an Institutional Review Board within the NIH. The NIH investigation found that regulatory and NIH policy requirements for informed consent were not met due to coercion, although not on the part of NIH researchers.

"Given the role of voluntary consent as a fundamental pillar of the ethical conduct of research, NIH has stopped the study out of an abundance of caution. In NIH's assessment, these investigative findings do not impact the conclusions of the study. NIH has shared this update with both participants and JAMA."

Havana Syndrome emerged in 2016 when US personnel started reporting headaches, auditory hallucinations, headaches, drowsiness, and a host of other problems in Cuba. By 2017 the US pulled all non-essential staff from the island nation and advised American citizens to avoid visiting the communist enclave. More than 1,000 other US govt workers have reported similar symptoms while stationed around the world. Staff at Canada's embassy in Cuba also reported strange health issues.

Claims of the use of directed energy weapons, poisoning, or other more esoteric attack techniques have all been made, and some point the finger of blame at Russia.

In March, the same month the agency started looking into claims of coercion, NIH released the two aforementioned papers on the embassy workers' anomalous health incidents (AHIs), aka Havana Syndrome, detailing how MRI brain scans had been carried out on some of those reporting symptoms and a control group. In neither case was there clear evidence that the syndrome existed, although symptoms certainly did.

"Our goal was to conduct thorough, objective and reproducible evaluations to see if we could identify structural brain or biological differences in people who reported AHIs," stated Leighton Chan, chief of rehabilitation medicine and acting chief scientific officer at the NIH Clinical Center.

"While we did not identify significant differences in participants with AHIs, it’s important to acknowledge that these symptoms are very real, cause significant disruption in the lives of those affected and can be quite prolonged, disabling and difficult to treat."

Seven US intelligence agencies last year probed the affair, particularly the alleged use of sound energy weapons. Five of the agencies rated the likelihood of such attacks as “very unlikely,” with another describing them as "unlikely," and one agency reaching no solid conclusion.

After the Associated Press released a
recording of the supposed sound heard in Havana, the Cuban authorities claimed it was simply naturally occurring cicadas. A Canadian study suggested the use of neurotoxins was to blame, but US investigators posited other factors may be in play - notably stressful working conditions and a possible psychosomatic or psychogenic cause, particularly after the US Government Accountability Office acknowledged in July that similar cases had been reported around the world.

The CIA hasn't responded to questions from The Register so far. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/09/04/us_halts_havana_syndrome/