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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is continuing
to withhold documents on Cold War chemical and biological weapons
tests that used unsuspecting sailors as "human samplers'' after
telling Congress it had released all medically relevant information.
In response to questions from The Associated
Press about a deposition last month by a former military scientist,
J. Clifton Spendlove, who planned and supervised the testing
program, the Defense Department acknowledged this week it still has
documents laying out the scope and methods of the tests.
Detailed planning documents and reports for
each of the tests are classified because they identify
vulnerabilities of military vessels to chemical and biological
warfare agents and capabilities for delivering the agents, the
Pentagon said in a response to questions from the AP.
In some cases, samples were taken from sailors
to measure their exposure to tracers used to simulate chemical and
biological agents, the Pentagon's written statement said. Reports on
them were not released because they "did not include any plans or
data that measured human effects,'' according to the statement.
Project 112 and the Shipboard Hazard and
Defense Project consisted of 50 tests conducted between 1962 and
1973. The tests were conducted in Alaska, Maryland, Florida,
Georgia, Hawaii, Utah, Panama, Canada, Britain and aboard ships in
the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The secretive tests involved 5,842 soldiers
and sailors -- many of whom were unwitting guinea pigs. The
experiments were designed to determine the effectiveness of
biological and chemical agents in combat and methods to protect
troops from attacks. An untold number of civilians also may have
been exposed during some of the tests on the troops.
In most cases, supposedly harmless simulants
were used to mimic anthrax, E. coli or other agents, although in a
number of cases potentially deadly nerve agents were used, including
sarin and VX.
Numerous veterans say they are now suffering
from illnesses because of exposure, but the Veterans Affairs
Administration has denied requests for health care coverage.
After a three-year investigation that Pentagon
officials characterized as "exhaustive,'' the Defense Department
released an overview of the tests and a series of fact sheets last
June and then disbanded the probe.
But the overview and fact sheets didn't
acknowledge the documents and films that were obtained by the
plaintiffs and authenticated by Spendlove, including results of
tests to determine how much of the chemical simulants the "human
samplers'' were exposed to.
The Pentagon had already issued its first set
of findings before it contacted Spendlove, who planned the Project
112 tests from the Deseret Test Center in Dugway, Utah.
Spendlove, in sworn testimony in a federal
court lawsuit in Washington on behalf of the veterans, said sailors
were used in the tests as "human samplers'' and cited several
documents and films laying out the scope and methods of the tests.
During his deposition, Spendlove was shown
reports and films from a few of the tests that were obtained by the
plaintiffs. He identified ships and individuals and vouched for
their authenticity and indicated many more documents are likely
stored at the library at the Deseret center where the testing
program was headquartered.
In one of the plaintiffs' films, a soldier is
loading the orange-tinted simulant used to mimic anthrax or other
biological agents into a plane that would spray it on a boat. He is
not wearing any protective equipment and is caked with the
substance.
Spendlove's account was corroborated by Norman
LaChapelle, a top Navy officer on the project, in an interview this
week with the AP.
But LaChapelle, a retired Navy commander who
is now in charge of chemical and biological weapons response for the
city of Memphis, said he was never contacted by the Pentagon in its
investigation.
"(Darn) right I was surprised'' at not being
contacted, said LaChapelle, who was in charge of the execution of
the SHAD tests from 1964-1970. "We were involved in it. We weren't
sitting in Salt Lake City. We were sitting at the test site.''
The Vietnam Veterans of America is suing
Pentagon officials on behalf of the sailors, demanding the release
of all of the test documents so the National Academies of Science
can fully analyze the potential health effects.
Douglas Rosinski, an attorney working with the
veterans group on behalf of the soldiers, said the effects of the
chemicals on the sailors has not been studied. The levels of
exposure that the documents might detail is a crucial piece of the
puzzle, he said.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., was frustrated
by the revelation that the Pentagon is still unwilling to share
information about the tests with the exposed sailors.
"It doesn't sit with me at all,'' said
Thompson, one of several lawmakers who pressured the Pentagon into
admitting the existence of Project 112 after 30 years of denials. "I
was under the impression that these guys had unearthed everything
that was out there that was available and they'd done the work they
were charged with doing. If what (Spendlove) says is true, they
haven't done the work.''
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