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Senator John Glenn's Committee on Governmental Affairs, which begins
hearings on radiation experiments involving human subjects today,
should also consider the effects of past and present biological
warfare testing on unwary citizens.
Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary, who prompted the attention about
radiation experiments, has no formal jurisdiction over the Army's
biological testing program. But she might have an interest in an early
germ-warfare test. It took place in 1951 near port News, VA., where
she was growing up.
The Army released an organism called Aspergillus fumigatus at the
Norfolk Naval Supply Center because most of the workers were black;
for some reason, the testers imagined an enemy might target the blacks
at military bases. "Since Negroes are more susceptible to coccodioides
than are whites," a report said, "this fungus disease was simulated by
using Aspergillus Fumigatus." Aspergillus, further, was known to cause
lethal infections.
In 1948, and for 20 years afterward, the Army released Bacteria among
millions of unsuspecting people. At hearings in 1977, Pentagon
witnesses acknowledged that bacteria and chemical particles were
sprayed over San Francisco, St. Louis, Minneapolis 236 other populated
locations.
The Army conceded that it had released Microorganisms at Washington
National Airport in 1965 during peak travel hours. The purpose was to
see how the bacteria spread and survived as people went about their
routine activities.
The Army still sprays bacteria outdoors at Dugway Proving Grounds, 70
miles from Salt Lake City. While declaring that bacteria are no longer
being disseminated over cities, the Army admits that during the 1980s
it conducted more than 170 open-air test Dugway. The stated purpose
was to evaluate the performance of biological-detector systems.
Utah residents remember that when a nerve-gas agent was released in
1968, it killed 6,000 sheep 20 miles away. Yet the Army fails to
acknowledge that its microorganisms can be wafted by winds beyond
control and can reproduce quickly.
The Army denies that its bacteria can cause illness, calling them
harmless "simulant materials." This has not mollified Utah officials,
scientists and medical experts. As early as 1950, there were
indications that the Army's experiments might causing harm. That year,
San Francisco was blanketed with bacteria sprayed from a boat
offshore. Within days, hospital patients began to develop heart and
urinary-tract infections, one patient died.
The Army still considers its test bacteria harmless, though no one
knows the extent of their effects. Secrecy about the biological
defense program has contributed to a spate of nasty rumors. The most
recent, involves the outbreak of a mysterious disease in the Southwest
that has taken perhaps 30 lives since May. Hanta viruses the apparent
cause of the disease, have been studied by military researchers for
years, and speculation has arisen that the viruses may have been
connected to the outbreak.
Suspicions could be alleviated if the program were under civilian
jurisdiction and truly open. A 1989 Army document claims that all
biological defense work is now unclassified. But in doublespeak, it
also says the results of that work may be classified.
The Army still neglects to monitor the health of citizens who may be
exposed during tests, even while insisting that its bacterial agents
cause no harm. Equally disturbing, people are given no choice about
exposed.
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Leonard A. Cole, professor of political science at
Rutgers in Newark,
is author of "Clouds of Secrecy: The Army's Germ Warfare Tests Over
Populated Areas."
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