By this logic, Edgewood was possibly the safest military place in the world to spend two months. In addition,NPR reports that sometimes, the experiments were also grouped by race "to see what effect these gasses would have on black skins.". TheUSmilitary also used Edgewood to distribute new methods of biological warfare. Veterans may file a claim for disability compensation for health problems they believe are related to exposures during Edgewood/Aberdeen chemical tests. Around 7,000 US military personnel and 1,000 civilians were test subjects over almost three decades. Some complained of headache or numbness. Macaulay Press. Even a book critical of the program, written by Lynn C. Klotz and Edward J. Sylvester, acknowledges that: Unlike the CIA program, research subjects [at Edgewood] all signed informed consent forms, both a general one and another related to any experiment they were to participate in. These men make a convincing case that they were not briefed about the risks involved in the program and did not understand the potential for the long-term effects they've endured. According to the 1984 NRC review, human experiments at DoD's Edgewood Arsenal involved about 1,500 subjects who were experimentally exposed to irritant and blister agents including: For example, from 1958 to 1973 at least 1,366 human subjects underwent experimental exposure specifically with the riot-control agent CS at Edgewood Arsenal (NRC 1984). (Lond.j, u.f.M. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to test protective clothing, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. According to "The Chemist's War" by Gerard J. Fitzgerald, by the end of the First World War, the Edgewood facility was "the most advanced chemical weapons facility in the world and the only facility capable of producing all four of the Great War's war gases [chloropicrin, phosgene, chlorine, and mustard gas]." Greene, L. Wilson, "Psychochemical Warfare: A New Concept of War", U. S. Army Chemical Center, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland; August 1949. Declassified Edgewood document AD351962 LSD tests on volunteers states: When this document has served its purpose, DESTROY it in accordance with AR 380-5. As such, this became the foundational understanding behind the Edgewood facility, and in order to manifest this new concept of warfare, thousands of people were experimented upon between 1948 and 1975. None of the requested materials were cleared for public release as of this writing (2016).[19]. These experiments were conducted at US Army Laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, MD. The Edgewood Arsenal human experiments lasted from the 1950s to the 1970s. The volunteerparticipants became unsuspecting guinea pigsexposed to nefarious contaminants and dangerous conditions that impacted their physical and mental health. [14], A significant omission from the Course summary above is the number of subjects on which BZ and related compounds were tested. At one point over a two-year period, over 1,000 cases of acute mustard agent toxicity were reported. That adds up to 1,167 man-years of survival. "Throughout recorded history, wars have been characterized by death, human misery, and the destruction of property; each major conflict being more catastrophic than the one preceding it. The chief of Irans nuclear program, Mohammad Eslami, acknowledged the findings of the IAEA report. THE; HUMAN ASSESSMENT OF EA 1729 AND EA 3528 BY THE INHALATION ROUTE (U) by James S. Ketchum Instead, they were told that the experiments were harmless and that their health would be monitored throughout the tests as well as afterward. The chemical agents tested on volunteers included chemical warfare agents and other related agents:[1]. Scientists learned this through repeated experimentation. Estimates of how many soldiers were used in human experiments by the U.S. Army and the CIA vary. NPR reports that while the soldiers did sign consent forms, they didn't know what they were being exposed to, and "some of the soldiers have suffered physical and psychological trauma since the tests." The IOM committee requested declassification of 21 additional elements from at least nine documents from DoD in August 2012. Conducted from 1955 to 1975 at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, the experiments echoed studies conducted through Project MKUltra, a CIA program that focused on the mind-control potential of drugs . These projects included Project Chatter in 1947, and Project Bluebird in 1950 [later renamed Project Artichoke]," Carrier writes. Whether you're looking for news and entertainment, thinking of joining the military or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to test protective clothing and pharmaceuticals. Congressional hearings into these experiments in 1974 and 1975 resulted in disclosures, notification of subjects as to the nature of their chemical exposures, and ultimately to compensation for a few families of subjects who had died during the experiments (NAS 1993). "practice, as well as a member of BCG's Scientist Network, and its North American Physician Network. The Army colonel had no regrets about the experiments and believed he was acting in the best interests of the nation as it faced a Cold War threat. In 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps officially ended its classified human subject research program at the Edgewood Arsenal facility in Maryland. 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). However once the experiments were uncovered, the US Senate also concluded questionable legality of the experiments and strongly condemned them. But over half a century later, they continue to be less than forthcoming about the experiments, even with their own subjects. If you are concerned about exposures during Edgewood/Aberdeen chemical tests, talk to your health care provider or yourlocal environmental health provider. In 1918, The Baltimore Sun described it as "the largest poison gas factory on earth." 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. Top secret Army experiments exposed thousands of veterans to potential chemical and biological weapons. This vast program of human experimentation shrouded in secrecy was centered at the Army's compounds at Edgewood Arsenal and Fort Detrick, Maryland. Home; News; Random Article; Install Wikiwand; Send a suggestion; Uninstall Wikiwand; Our magic isn't perfect. According to the US Army Research Development and Engineering Command Chemical and Biological Center,Edgewood had "two shell filling plants, housing for 8,500 workersand soldiers, a chemical laboratory, and a hospital, plus all the road and rail infrastructure needed for production and transport.". 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. The Edgewood Arsenal human experiments took place from approximately 1948 to 1975 at the Medical Research Laboratories which is now known as the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) at the Edgewood Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The experiments . 8s. There were several projects at Edgewood between the 1940s into the 1970s. Between 1955 and 1975, the number of volunteertest subjects totaled between 6,000 and 7,000 soldiers. ", The 1975 report by the U.S. Army Inspector General on the "Use of Volunteers in Critical Agent Research" was one of the first official revelations regarding human experimentation at the Edgewood facility. And most of the scientists brought over had already been identified as Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg Trials. In the Army's tests, as with those of the CIA, individual rights were subordinated to national security considerations; informed consent and follow-up examinations of subjects were neglected in efforts to maintain the secrecy of the tests. In the end, the focus is on the veterans who endured these experiments and the struggles many have faced since. By Charles Berg, M.D. If they keep quiet, they won't be able to get the medical help required to treat the lingering mental damage caused them. 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). In addition to chemical agents that could be used during warfare, the U.S. Army also tested numerous psychoactive agents on soldiers at the Edgewood facility. According to "Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare," the U.S. Army also conducted nerve agent testing experiments in Hawaii between 1966 and 1967. 2, "Cholinesterase Reactivators, Psychochemicals and Irritants and Vesicants, Vol. The government testedthe limits of human tolerance toitin attempts to counteract its effects. The experiments were performed at the Edgewood Arsenal in northeast Maryland, and involved the use of heavy hallucogens like LSD, in addition to biological and neurological chemical agents.. (N.D. Cal. 1, "Anticholinesterases and Anticholinergics" (1982). An "Independent Study Course" for continuing medical education produced by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Effects from Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Weapons (October 2003),[12] presents the following summary of the Edgewood Arsenal experiments: Renewed interest led to renewed human testing by the Department of Defense (DoD), although ultimately on a much smaller scale. The New Yorker writes that the U.S. Army promptly built laboratories and gas chambers in order to run experiments on human subjects after witnessing the effects of chemical warfare during WWI. BTW, I am not endorsing the article's quality otherwise, which is very low indeed. 2004 GAO report The heart of the film is interviews with a group of veterans who participated in the testing program, mostly during the Vietnam War era. Too much of it was lethal. Its success, like that of the surgeon, depends on an experienced and. From 1952 to 1975 more than 7,000 Army and Air Force soldiers at Edgewood Arsenal and Fort Detrick were subjected to secret experiments testing a witches brew of incapacitating psychochemicals.