Experiments were carried out with safety of subjects a principal focus. the common OP antidote, other ocular and respiratory irritants; and. Edgewood/Aberdeen Experiments From 1955 to 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted classified medical studies at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. He was told never to talk about his experiences at Edgewood and to forget about everything he ever did, said or heard at the Maryland base. Even when he talks about Edgewood, he said, I get a tightness in my chest.. Discovery Company. "They didn't know they were signing up to get mystery chemicals injected into their bodies," Hancock said. According to the memoirs of James Ketchum, who also cites the IOM study for the data, "24 belladonnoid glycolates and related compounds" were "given to 1,800 subjects". The mustard gas experiments were conducted at a time when American intelligence showed that enemy gas attacks were imminent. 2009), the plaintiffs did not seek monetary damages. This program involved testing nerve agents, nerve agent antidotes, psycho chemicals, and irritants. Bollinger gave up appealing VA rejections in 1994, after four years of traveling back and forth 30 miles to a VA office office in Pittsburgh. NPR Investigations Research Librarian Barbara Van Woerkom contributed reporting and research to this investigation. Cavell is currently being re-evaluated before the benefits can be disbursed. But NPR interviewed veterans who met both of those requirements and have still been denied for years sometimes decades as the VA continues to request more information and proof. Bicycle, Scooter, and Electric Bike Accidents, Cerebral Palsy Malpractice Injury Lawsuits, Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) Disease Injury Lawyers, Clergy Sexual Abuse Lawyers | Priest Abuse Attorneys, Pennsylvania Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Lawyers, U.S. Army Edgewood Arsenal Medical Experiments, Bicycle, Scooter, and Electric Bike Accident, Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) Disease Injury. In January 2014, an additional request was made for release of multiple films made of Project SHAD tests. You can't hardly walk, and your mind is going so many different directions," Paul said. He said the group was told they would help test military equipment like gas masks. The whole thing stinks, and if the American people knew about it, they would not tolerate it. Rochelle, 60, who has come back to live in Onslow county, said in an interview that there were about two dozen volunteers . The chemical caused a delirium that included hallucinations and an inability to carry out tasks. We conduct ongoing accessibility reviews and remediate any functionality issues. Those substances affect the same region of the brain, Erspamer said. But until NPR inquired about his case, all of those claims had been denied. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In 2009 a lawsuit was filed by veterans rights organizations Vietnam Veterans of America, and Swords to Plowshares, and eight Edgewood veterans or their families against CIA, the U.S. Army, and other agencies. A Government Accounting Office report of May 2004, Chemical and Biological Defense: DOD Needs to Continue to Collect and Provide Information on Tests and Potentially Exposed Personnel (pp. And in this case I'm afraid the answer is not yet. Statistically, at least one out of a thousand young soldiers chosen at random might be expected to expire during any one-year period. pp 89, "Secret Army volunteer's widow blames VA for spouse's death" (CNN; 3/3/12), "Vets feel abandoned after secret drug experiments" (CNN; 3/1/12), Last edited on 30 November 2022, at 16:44, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Vietnam Veterans of America v. Central Intelligence Agency, Human experimentation in the United States, "Altered States: LSD and the Anesthesia Laboratory of Henry Knowles Beecher", "Edgewood Arsenal Chemical Agent Exposure Studies 19551975", Researchers tested pot, LSD on Army volunteers. Sometimes it was an injection. Initially, such studies focused solely on the lethality of the gases and its treatment and prevention. This kind of behavior toward our veterans would not be allowed to happen, Erspamer said. 1942-1945: U.S. Navy initiated poisonous Mustard Gas and Lewisite (derivative of arsenic) experiments to test protective clothing and anti-blister ointments at the Naval Research Laboratory and at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal. Attorney James Hancock works with the California law firm Morrison & Foerster, which filed a class action lawsuit back in 2008 against the CIA and Department of Defense. Days before his Edgewood duty ended, in February 1968, Josephs was hospitalized for days with Parkinsons-like tremors, symptoms he said have followed him on and off throughout his adult life. Yet another lawsuit was filed against the town of Edgewood this week, this time by a former member of the town's planning and zoning commission, alleging violation of the Inspection of Public Records Act. He filed a federal lawsuit for compensation in 1979, but was unsuccessful because of a legal doctrine that protects the military from being sued for service-related injuries. The 1945 Edgewood Arsenal explosion killed twelve munitions workers and injured more than fifty on May 25, 1945. appreciated. About 260 subjects were experimentally exposed to various psychochemicals including phencyclidine (PCP), and 10 related synthetic analogs of the active ingredient of cannabis (NRC 1984). 1982-85 IOM report I really felt a duty to my country to go and serve, he said. For example, in 1970, DEFENDANTS provided Congress with an alphabetical list showing that they had tested 145 drugs during Projects Bluebird, Artichoke, Case4:09-cv-00037-CW Document180 Filed11/18/10 Page6 of 76 They based that conclusion on the same information that had been sitting in his VA file for decades. Two TV documentaries, with different content but confusingly similar titles were broadcast: In 2012, the Edgewood/Aberdeen experiments were featured on CNN and in, This page was last edited on 30 November 2022, at 16:44. Oakland, CA: A Veterans disability class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of several Veterans Affairs associations including Vietnam Veterans of America as well as individual Vietnam. [] At Edgewood, even at the highest doses it often took an hour or more for incapacitating effects to show, and the end-effects usually did not include full incapacitation, let alone unconsciousness. From this point on, APG was the common identifier for both areas. If you or someone you love were a victim of these experiments, we urge you to contact Parker Waichman LLP today to protect your legal rights. If you dont, youre going to jail. His wife, Irene, remembers how the experiments affected his health for the rest of his life. In the late 1940s and early '50s, the U.S. Army worked with Harvard anesthesiologist Henry K. Beecher at its interrogation center at Camp King in Germany on the use of psychoactive compounds (mescaline, LSD), including human subject experiments and the debriefing of former Nazi physicians and scientists who had worked along similar lines before the end of the war. 877-222-8387, TDD (Hearing Impaired) Paul's paperwork shows he received BZ, which he said felt like he was in a nightmare for hours at a time. They gave him such high doses that he in the vernacular, he flipped out. As a result of the testing, many of the veterans who served between two and four months at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, suffer from chronic, debilitating illnesses. And when he questioned the staff about whether he was in any danger, they reassured him: There is nothing here that could ever harm you., But Josephs, 63, believes the chemical agents he received during his two-month stint at Edgewood did harm him, triggering health problems that continue to plague him four decades later. After receiving the drug, soldiers were monitored to see if they could do basic tasks like run an obstacle course. Attention A T users. A lawsuit brought by a veterans' advocacy group, Vietnam Veterans of America, resulted in the requirement that the Army give medical care to eligible veterans who took part in testing that. In 2015, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the Army, and not Veterans Affairs, should provide veterans with medical care related to the testing. The Army then sent Josephs to Air Force bases in Thailand, in support of the war effort in Vietnam. Ariel Zambelich/NPR. We will strive to make that page accessible. 27299 Riverview Center Boulevard, Suite 108. Finally, from 1962 to 1972, a total of 123 irritant chemicals were tested on only two subjects each exposed using a wind tunnel (NRC 1984). Then, in 1996, Bollinger received a military commendation in the mail. These experiments with mustard gas were conducted by the Army and Navy at more than a dozen locations. Josephs has not received any health benefits related to his time as a human test subject at Edgewood. The letter granting him benefits made no mention of Edgewood. At 79 years old, he actively harvests honey from his bee farm. When those experiments were formally declassified in the 1990s, the Department of Veterans Affairs made two promises: to locate about 4,000 men who were used in the most extreme tests, and to compensate those who had permanent injuries. Harry Bollinger, 88, of Freeport, Pa., pauses as he talks about his recovery from mustard gas exposure as part of an experiment at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Original photo: Courtesy of Charlie Cavell Ariel Zambelich/NPR Some test subjects had only partial exposure, such as having the chemical agents applied directly onto their skin. Nine workers, of whom eight were African-American, were killed in the . However, a good history and physical examination can provide valuable information and help determine a Veterans risk of developing health problems related to the exposure. It wasn't the real me there," Paul said. Historic images from the Naval Research Laboratory depict results of a test subject who was exposed to mustard gas. My mom eventually transferred to Edgewood Arsenal shortly later. But he's haunted by what happened to him at Edgewood. Each year more of their stories die with them. Other exposures included tear gas, and hallucinogenics like LSD. According to at least one class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Edgewood Arsenal veterans, other substances tested on soldiers there included mescaline, amphetamines, mustard gas, CS (riot control agent), a THC analog called red oil, anthrax, botulism, plague, tularemia, Q fever, and crop destruction agents such as dioxin, used in Agent Orange. And you just wouldnt think they would give you something that would harm you intentionally.. The Edgewood Arsenal Rod and Gun Club was a club that included U.S. Army officers and Department of the Army civilian personnel stationed at the Arsenal as well as their families and guests. NPR interviewed more than 40 living test subjects and family members, and they describe an unending cycle of appeals and denials as they struggled to get government benefits for mustard gas exposure. The prior finding held that the Army has an ongoing duty to seek out and provide "notice" to former test participants of any new information that could potentially affect their health. In the mid-1970s, in the wake of many health claims made regarding exposure to the agents, the U.S. Congress began investigations of possible abuse in experiments and of inadequate informed consent given to the soldiers and civilians involved. But Bollinger says that time in his life is tainted: by the pain he felt as a human test subject in military experiments, and by the VA that told him it wasn't real. According to the class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Edgewood Arsenal veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), despite having actively participated in the experiments, has denied between 97% and 99% of all disability or death claims arising out of the exposures. 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