WAR IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON : Unapproved Drugs Cleared for Troops

The military may require troops serving in the Persian Gulf to take unapproved drugs to protect against biological and germ warfare, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Stanley S. Harris dismissed a lawsuit that contended the troops should be warned about the risk of side effects, allowed to refuse the treatment and required to give their consent beforehand. He said the action by the Defense Department involves “strategic military decisions,” not research on involuntary human subjects. The advocacy group Public Citizen, which filed the class-action lawsuit in January on behalf of an unidentified Army soldier in Saudi Arabia, said it will appeal.