Shown is a M291 powder skin-decontamination kit, which is no longer recommended as the best chemical-warfare protection for troops. However, lawmakers put a $5.6 million earmark favoring M291 in the 2008 defense bill.Earmark Helps Businesses, Not Troops -- Seattle Times
After being lobbied by companies making a decontamination powder, powerful U.S. senators Charles Schumer, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Arlen Specter forced the military to keep buying what it considers inferior chemical-warfare protection for the troops.
Scientists have discovered a lotion that can save the lives of U.S. soldiers exposed to chemical weapons — a product vastly superior to the standard-issue decontamination powder.
Naturally, the Defense Department wants to scrap the powder and switch to the more-effective lotion.
But there's a problem: After being lobbied by the companies making the powder, several members of Congress pushed through two earmarks worth $7.6 million that forced the military for the past two years to keep buying the inferior product.
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My Comment: The corruption of the political process continues, and much of the press remains quiet on the issue.