| Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) |
From: Richard Sanders <ad207_-at-_freenet.carleton.ca>
To: no_to_nato_-at-_flora.org
Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 11:22:34 -0500
The U.S. Military "Tested" Biological Weapons on Thousands of American
Citizens
On dozens of separate occasions since the Second World War, biological
weapons have been used against innocent U.S. civilians. These actions were
perpetrated, not by foreign terrorists but by the US Army, during secret
"open-air" biowarfare experiments that used the American public as guinea
pigs.
One of the main sources of information on this history is an unclassified
Special Report to Congress by the US Army called: "US Army Activity in the
US Biological Warfare Programs, 1942-1977. Vols 1 and 2," that was
published on February 24, 1977.
In quotations from four online sources copied below, you'll see that:
* In 1951, African American citizens were deliberately targeted to
determine whether they were more susceptible than whites to disease caused
by certain biological agents.
* The US Army deliberately released biological weapons on thousands of
citizens living in the San Francisco Bay area, California; Tampa Bay,
Florida, Savannah, Georgia; New York City and elsewhere.
* A US court said that the military could not be sued by family members of
a San Fransisco victim who died when deliberately and unknowingly exposed
to bioweapons during a U.S. Army experiment in 1950.
There is, however, no evidence that anyone has ever been investigated, let
alone charged or convicted, for any of these well-documented cases in which
biological weapons were used against U.S. civilians, even though written
admissions of responsibility for the "experiments" are readily available on
the public record.
For more commentary and information on this subject, please refer to my
article:
"The History of Bioterrorism in America: White Power, White Powder and the
White House"
<http://www.flora.org/coat/forum/530>
In solidarity with all victims of terrorism
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
===
(1)
The U.S. Biological Warfare and Biological Defense Programs (Chapter 19)
By DAVID R. FRANZ, D.V.M., PH.D.*; CHERYL D. PARROTT†; AND ERNEST T.
TAKAFUJI, M.D., M.P.H.‡
<http://ccc.apgea.army.mil/Documents/HTML_Restricted/chapters/chapter_19.htm>
The biological warfare research program in the early 1940s and 1950s
involved antipersonnel, anticrop, and, for a brief period, antianimal
studies.8 Field trials included open-air vulnerability testing, and
contamination of public water systems with live organisms such as Serratia
marcescens. Covert programs were conducted by the Central Intelligence
Agency. Pathogenic organisms were also tested in Florida and the Bahamas in
the 1940s. Chemical anticrop studies evaluated defoliation and crop
destruction. Explosive munitions tests with pathogens were begun in 1949.
In 1950, the first open-air tests with biological simulants were
conducted in various locales, one of which was off the coast of Norfolk,
Virginia. This was followed by limited zinc cadmium sulfide dispersal tests
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953; and Bacillus
subtilis var niger dispersal in the New York City subway system in 1966.3,4
The Special Operations Division at Camp Detrick conducted much of the
research on possible methods of covert attack and sabotage, and many
environmental studies-often without informing local or state governmental
agencies or the general population.
Between 1948 and 1950, several reviews were conducted by the Research
Review Board of the biological, chemical, and radiological warfare
programs. Recommendations included the creation of a specific biological
warfare production facility, continued field tests with biological warfare
agents and munitions, and expansion of the overall program. In 1949, an
enclosed, 1-million-liter steel test sphere was built at Camp Detrick, and
biological warfare explosive munitions tests with agents were begun (Figure
19-1).
During the early 1950s, Major General George E. Armstrong, The U.S.
Army Surgeon General (1951-1955) became concerned about medical defense
issues. Lieutenant Colonel Abram S. Benenson, a medical officer from the
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, was appointed medical liaison with
the biological warfare laboratories at Fort Detrick. A joint agreement was
signed, and beginning in 1953, studies on medical defense against
biological weapons were conducted cooperatively by the Chemical Corps and
the U.S. Army Medical Department. In 1954, a congressionally approved
medical volunteer program, designated "Project Whitecoat," was established
after a series of meetings with representatives of the General Conference
of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and The Surgeon General, U.S. Army.
Field Testing in the United States
The Korean War, which began in June 1950, added justification for
continuing the biological warfare program, when the possible entry of the
Soviet Union into the war was feared. Concerns over the Soviet Union were
justified, for the Soviet Union would pronounce in 1956 that chemical and
biological weapons would, indeed, be used for mass destruction in future
wars.9 In October 1950, the secretary of defense approved continuation of
the program, based largely on the Soviet threat and a belief that the North
Korean and Chinese communists would use biological weapons.10
The first large-scale aerosol vulnerability test was conducted in the
San Francisco Bay area in September 1950, using two species of bacteria
(Bacillus globigii and Serratia marcescens) and fluorescent particles.
Various Bacillus species were used in many experiments because of their
spore-forming capabilities and their similarities to Bacillus anthracis. S
marcescens was used because its red pigment made it readily identifiable.
What was unexpected was the increased number of cases of Serratia
infections over the next few years in communities that had been sprayed
earlier with the organisms.4 The military considered the situations
coincidental, but many civilian physicians believed them to be directly
related. Other limited-scale field tests with pathogenic organisms were
conducted at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Antianimal studies were conducted
at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
The biological warfare research facilities at Camp Detrick were
expanded, and a biological warfare production facility was created at Pine
Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, in 1951. The first limited, biological warfare
retaliatory capability was achieved when an anticrop bomb was developed,
tested, and placed in production for the U.S. Air Force. Anticrop-agent
production sites were carefully selected for safety with the coordination
and approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This marked the first
peacetime biological weapons production by the United States.11
By 1954, the Pine Bluff laboratory produced Brucella suis (the
causative agent of brucellosis, also called undulant fever) and Francisella
tularensis (tularemia, or rabbit fever). Hardware for antipersonnel
biological cluster bombs was delivered to Pine Bluff for filling with
Brucella suis to support air force requirements. By 1955, the accelerated
program was producing stocks of B suis and F tularensis as biological
warfare agents. While many of the efforts involved military researchers,
others from the Public Health Service, other Federal departmental agencies,
and civilian scientific institutions were also involved in the research.
The general public was uninformed of these on-going studies,
especially the environmental and open-air experiments that were being
conducted. A controversial environmental test occurred in 1951, when army
researchers deliberately exposed a disproportionate number of black
citizens to the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, to see if African Americans
were more susceptible to such infection, like they were already known to be
to coccidioidomycosis (Coccidioides immitis). Some in the scientific
community believed that such knowledge would assist in preparing defenses
against a more virulent form of this fungus. Similarly, in 1951,
unsuspecting workers at the Norfolk Supply Center, Norfolk, Virginia, were
exposed to crates contaminated with A fumigatus spores.
Needless to say, there was a public outcry several years later when
much of this information was released, and the biological warfare research
program would be forever tainted as operating within "clouds of secrecy."4
The first lawsuit against the U.S. government was filed by family members
of an individual who had died, allegedly as a result of the San Francisco
experiments in 1950. The court decided that the U.S. government could not
be sued (under the Federal Tort Claims Act), since the decision to spray S
marcescens was a part of national defense planning. Several of the
organisms (such as S marcescens and A fumigatus), which were considered at
one time to be innocuous, are now recognized to cause infections in humans,
on occasion. Immunocompromised or debilitated persons appear to be at
greatest risk. Early experiments conducted with such organisms involving
subjects or populations who were unaware of the ongoing experiments may
have posed a health risk to highly susceptible persons.
During the two decades following the second World War, laboratories
for biological and chemical warfare research continued to increase in size,
and programs were expanded with a multimillion dollar budget. The Fort
Detrick research program was complemented by contractual civilian
institutions; for example, Ohio State University was tasked with making
vaccines. Human volunteers were used in many of the studies. Vaccines
against diseases, such as Q fever and tularemia, were developed...."
1. Fox LA. Bacterial warfare: The use of biologic agents in warfare. Milit
Surg. 1933;72(3):189-207.
2. Bernstein BJ. The birth of the US biological-warfare program. Sci Am.
1987;256:116-121.
3. Department of the Army. Special Report to Congress. US Army Activity in
the US Biological Warfare Programs, 1942-1977. Vols 1 and 2. Washington,
DC: DA. 24 Feb 1977. Unclassified.
4. Cole LA. Clouds of Secrecy: The Army's Germ Warfare Tests Over Populated
Areas. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield; 1988.
5. Williams P, Wallace D. Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in
World War II. New York, NY: Free Press; 1989.
6. Report to the Secretary of War by Mr. George W. Merck, Special
Consultant for Biological Warfare, 3 Jan 1946. Cited in: Department of the
Army. Special Report to Congress. US Army Activity in the US Biological
Warfare Programs, 1942-1977. Vol 2, annex 1. Washington, DC: DA. 24 Feb
1977. Unclassified.
7. Baldwin IL. Special BW Operations. Washington, DC: The National Military
Establishment Research and Development Board; 5 Oct 1948. Memorandum for
Executive Secretary, Research and Development Board. Unclassified.
8. Hersh SM. Chemical and Biological Warfare: America's Hidden Arsenal.
Indianapolis, Ind: Bobbs-Merrill; 1968.
9. Geissler E, ed. Biological and Toxin Weapons Today (Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute). Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press; 1986.
10. Harris R, Paxman J. A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret of Chemical
and Biological Warfare. New York, NY: Hill and Wang; 1982.
11. Cowdrey AE. The Medics' War. Washington DC: Center of Military History,
US Army; 1987.
The above quotation from is from an online book at the CCCD website:
The Chemical Casualty Care Division (CCCD), located at Aberdeen Proving
Ground, MD is a division of the United States Army Medical Research
Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD). The USAMRICD is one of six
medical research laboratories and institutes operated by the United States
Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC).
===
(2)
Findings & Conclusions:
DOD HAS DEMONSTRATED A PATTERN OF MISREPRESENTING THE DANGER OF VARIOUS
MILITARY EXPOSURES THAT CONTINUES TODAY.
<http://www.trufax.org/trans/roc23.html>
"According to Dr. Leonard Cole, professor at Rutgers University, the DOD
has denied the possibility of harm from various exposures. However, in many
instances the military belatedly recognized that some exposures may be
causing disease and death. (Note 157) Such denial, however, delays the
availability of medical assistance to those harmed.
For example, the military has released chemicals and biological agents
through outdoor "open air" tests for over four decades. Some of these
supposedly safe chemicals and biological agents, referred to as simulants,
were also released over populated areas and cities. (Note 158) Although
scientific evidence suggested that the tests may have caused illnesses to
exposed citizens, the Army repeatedly claimed that these bacteria and
chemicals were harmless until adverse health effects convinced them to
change the simulants used. The death of Edward J. Nevin was associated with
the release of one simulant, Serratia marcescens, over San Francisco in
1950. (Note 159) A subsequent court trial revealed that on September 26 and
27, 1950, the Army sprayed Serratia marcescens from a boat off the coast of
San Francisco. (Note 160) On September 29, patients at the Stanford
University Hospital in San Francisco began appearing with Serratia
marcescens infections. Although the judge denied the validity of the
plaintiffs' claims that the exposures were related to the death of Mr.
Nevin, the trial raised frightening questions about the selection of
simulants. Serratia marcescens is no longer used by the military as a
simulant.
Dugway Proving Ground has been a site for "open air" testing of chemical
and biological agents for decades. The purpose of the tests is to determine
how the agents spread and survive, and their effect on people and the
environment. Earl Davenport is a veteran who participated in tests at
Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, first as a military employee and later as a
civilian employee. He became ill in 1984 after being exposed to a chemical
simulant called DMMP (dimethyl methylphosphate). He had been spraying the
chemical into the path of a laser beam when a sudden change in wind blew
the chemical all over his face and hair before he was able to put on a
protective mask. Although he was "wheezing and coughing" the next day, and
his symptoms lasted for weeks, the Dugway Army Hospital merely gave him
cough medicine and antibiotics. The Dugway Safety Office assured him that
the chemical was safe. However, by 1988, officials at Dugway had
reevaluated the simulant's danger, and were becoming concerned that DMMP
could cause cancer and kidney damage. (Note 161) Mr. Davenport is currently
attempting to obtain compensation for his illness from the Department of
Labor, since his exposure occurred when he was employed at Dugway as a
civilian.
In 1992, several military personnel from the Arizona National Guard
experienced chemical burns during a summer training exercise at the Dugway
Proving Grounds. According to two physicians, a daughter from one of the
guardsmen also received chemical burns when she later handled her father's
duffle bag. One of these doctors, Dr. Michael Vance, was contacted by
military officials and encouraged to modify his written findings on the
possible cause of the daughter's injury. (Note 162) He refused.
According to scientists and doctors from the University of Utah, there is
great concern over the potential health consequences not only for military
personnel who work and train at Dugway, but also for civilians who live in
a small town and on an Indian reservation near the Proving Grounds.
Moreover, physicians from the Utah Medical Society have complained about
the lack of information provided to the medical community about the agents
that are used in Dugway, despite repeated requests. (Note 163)
According to Dr. Cole, the use of potentially harmful chemical and
biological agents continues at Dugway even today. For example, he testified
that the Army uses a simulant called Bacillus subtilis, "which is fairly
harmless in many natural conditions, [but] is recognized as a potential
source of infection and can cause serious illness in some people when they
are exposed to it in large numbers and they inhale large numbers of those
microorganisms." (Note 164)
Dr. Cole also testified about the lack of informed consent at Dugway in
recent months. For example, in November 1993, a test that was intended to
evaluate whether chemical agents could penetrate protective clothing used
informed consent forms that did not mention the chemicals. (Note 165)..."
Source: The 1994 Rockefeller Report, Examining Biological Experimentation
on U.S. Military
<http://www.trufax.org/menu/rocmenu.html>
===
(3)
Sunday, October 22, 1995
Secrets At Sea: Cloud Of Secrecy Lifting On Dugway Navy's Tests Of Germ And
Chemical Agents In The Pacific During Vietnam War.
By Lee Davidson, Washington Correspondent
"While the 1960s movie and TV series "The Wackiest Ship in the Army" poked
fun at the idea of the Army sailing ships, the Army's Dugway Proving Ground
and Fort Douglas actually had a secret navy to test germ and chemical arms
in the Pacific.
Unlike the Hollywood comedies about World War II, Dugway's Vietnam War era
work was deadly serious:
- Their ships sailed through clouds of germ and chemical agents, and some
sailors now blame cancer and other diseases they suffer on it - or on the
mix of chemicals used for decontamination.
- While germ and chemical tests usually occurred in remote areas oft he
Pacific for safety and secrecy, at least one test was conducted in San
Francisco Bay.
- Some of the ships had already been contaminated by radiation when used
earlier as test ships during ocean nuclear bomb tests - which sailors also
say may have sickened them.
- The ships also conducted tests designed to see if migratory birds could
be infected far from an enemy's shores to later fly in and spread diseases
- or whether examining birds from afar could show if enemies were working
with deadly germs.
- One of the sailors says he was even sent into Laos and Cambodia to
discharge germ and chemical weapons for tests - which, if true, likely
violated treaties.
The story about Dugway's navy emerges from once-secret documents obtained
through the Freedom of Information Act by the Deseret News and from
interviews with sailors involved ...."
<http://people.ne.mediaone.net/kknowlto/navy.htm>
===
(4)
"Beyond AIDS: The West's Covert Chemical-Biological Warfare Programs"
<http://www.wakeupmag.co.uk/articles/biochem.htm>
".... In 1977, for the first time, the US Army admitted carrying out
hundreds of chemical and biological warfare tests since World War II,
including at least 25 that targeted civilian populations. Previously
classified records show that between 1951 and 1967, on at least 48
occasions the Army used disease-causing microbes in open-air tests and,
that on at least 31 other occasions, anti-crop substances were knowingly
discharged into the environment. Some especially outrageous highlights were
the following:
In 1950, the US Navy secretly sprayed a cloud of Serratia marcescens
bacteria over San Francisco. The Navy later claimed the bacteria used in
the simulated attack were harmless, but many residents came down with
pneumonia-like symptoms and one died. Although the military did not carry
out many follow up studies on these tests, one showed that nearly every
single person became infected with the test organism....
In 1955 the Tampa Bay area of Florida experienced a sharp rise in Whooping
Cough cases, including 12 deaths, following a CIA bio-war test where a
bacteria withdrawn from the Army's Chemical and Biological Warfare arsenal
was released into the environment. Details of the test are still classified.
Between 1956 and 1958 in the poor black communities of Savannah, Georgia
and Avon Park, Florida, the Army carried out field tests in which
mosquitoes were released into residential neighbourhoods both from ground
level and dropped from planes and helicopters. Many people were swarmed by
mosquitoes, and developed unknown fevers; some even died. After each test,
US Army personnel posing as public health officials photographed and tested
the victims and then disappeared from town. It is theorized that the
mosquitoes were infected with a strain of Yellow Fever. However, details of
the testing remain classified....
From June 7th to 10th 1966, the US Army's Special Operations Division (SOD)
dispensed a bacillus throughout the New York City subway system. The Army's
justification for the experiment was the fact that there are many subways
in the (former) Soviet Union, Europe, and South America. Although there are
no harmful effects known for this release, details of the experiment are
still classified...."
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
(A network of individuals and NGOs across Canada and around the world)
Tel.: 613-231-3076 Fax: 613-231-2614
Email: <ad207@ncf.ca> Web site: <http://www.ncf.ca/coat>
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