One of the men who never heard from the VA was John Berzellini. Schnurman and his wife, Joy, spent the next two decades compiling evidence of the testing in order to put pressure on the military. "I don't think there's an explanation for why this program wasn't more successful," Goss says. "The word got around they were looking for volunteers for testing," Paul said. Discovery Company. The plaintiffs collectively referred to themselves as the "Test Vets". According to a deposition given by a former soldier involved in the program who is now deceased, it was not until men arrived at Edgewood Arsenal that they were informed that drugs would also be used in the experiments. And this goes to the essence of 'Can you trust your government?' You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links. Greene, L. Wilson, "Psychochemical Warfare: A New Concept of War", U. S. Army Chemical Center, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland; August 1949. "We weren't told what it was," says Charlie Cavell, who was 19 when he volunteered for the program in exchange for two weeks' vacation. He married Michelle, a nurse, in 1977, but the couple decided not to have children, fearing his chemical exposure might somehow affect them. hide caption, Former CIA Director Porter Goss says the VA has mishandled these claims. Lieberman, while acknowledging that "most of the military data" on the research ongoing at the Army Chemical Center was "secret and unpublished", asserted that "There are moral imponderables, such as whether insanity, temporary or permanent, is a more 'humane' military threat than the usual afflictions of war. It concluded that "Whether the subjects at Edgewood incurred these changes [depression, cognitive deficits, tendency to suicide] and to what extent they might now show these effects are not known". But the research expanded into offensive chemical weapons, including one that could, according to one Army film obtained by CNN, deliver a veritable chemical ambush against an enemy. The experiments involved at least 254 chemical substances, but focused mainly on midspectrum incapacitants, such as LSD, THC derivatives, benzodiazepines, and BZ. After a stint at a defense company in Tennessee, Carl Gepp got a job in 1965 as an engineer working on the Honest John missile back at the Edgewood Arsenal. But now he just wants people to know what he and others endured. [The VA] has made it a priority to identify all service members exposed to chemical and biological substances. A refusal to satisfy their legal and moral obligations to locate the victims of experiments or to provide health care or compensation to them. The Edgewood Arsenal experiments took place from approximately 1952 to 1975 at the Medical Research Laboratories, which is now known as the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense of the Edgewood Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. 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. However once the experiments were uncovered, the US Senate also concluded questionable legality of the experiments and strongly condemned them. "They want to use young men as guinea pigs and throw them away," said Josephs, now 63. Those substances affect the same region of the brain, Erspamer said. After an hour, the officer released six of the men back to their barracks. Served as a volunteer for medical research in a U.S. Army chemical or biological substance testing program from 1942 to 1975. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. In more than 20 years, the VA attempted to reach just 610 of the men, with a single letter sent in the mail. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to test protective clothing and pharmaceuticals. It forced the Army to locate soldiers who were in the testing program and send them documentation detailing what happened to them. Blisters that eventually increased to the size of half dollar coins started to grow in the same places. Experiments were carried out with safety of subjects a principal focus. Cheryl Huppertz filed a lawsuit in district court Sept. 28, seeking a writ of mandamus to compel Edgewood to produce public [] Health Care Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much hide caption. 1. Rochelle, 60, who has come back to live in Onslow county, said in an interview that there were about two dozen volunteers . In secret chemical weapons experiments conducted during World War II, the U.S. military exposed thousands of American troops to mustard gas. Sometimes it was an injection. A lot of chemicals were referred to as agent one or agent two., Some weeks, he would undergo one test; other weeks, more, Josephs said. Treatment will be in addition to the comprehensive medical care that plaintiffs are entitled to receive through Veterans Affairs because of their status as veterans, the release said. Some of the volunteers exhibited symptoms at the time of exposure to these agents but long-term follow-up was not planned as part of the DoD studies. He says he is proud of his service, and he wears the cap everywhere he goes. Watching soldiers suffer through delirium and panic attacks while older survivors describe their experiences makes for powerful viewing. 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The complaint asked the court to determine that defendants' actions were illegal and that the defendants have a duty to notify all victims and to provide them with health care. "That's going to be on my tombstone," Bollinger says. Goss was a Florida congressman when he was contacted by a group of constituents who were used as test subjects and spoke out on their behalf. 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. Edgewood Arsenal was a classified US army facility in Maryland where recruits were subjected to sarin, VX, teargas, LSD and PCP. Three test subjects enter a gas chamber, which will fill with mustard gas, as part of the military's secret chemical warfare testing in March 1945. Overall, about 7,000 soldiers took part in these experiments that involved exposures to more than 250 different chemicals, according to the Department of Defense (DoD). The claims process has also been complicated by Department of Defense claims that it cannot find records to substantiate most of the veterans participation in the tests, causing the VA to summarily deny those claims, the lawsuit alleges. To date, these policies have not been applied to World War II vets who were exposed to mustard gas. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) A top-secret military program treated active-duty U.S. soldiers like they were guinea pigs according to a class action lawsuit that shed light on what happened. For 20. Read the lawsuit complaint document (PDF), Read about an Edgewood volunteers widow who blames the VA for his death, Gordon Erspamer, lead attorney in the suit, has reviewed the partial Edgewood medical records that Josephs was able to obtain with the help of his wife. The plaintiffs collectively referred to themselves as the "Test Vets". Of those involved in the experiments: Most of these experiments involved tests of protective equipment and of subjects' ability to perform military tasks during exposure. In September 1975, the Medical Research Volunteer Program was discontinued and all resident volunteers were removed from the Edgewood installation. The IOM committee requested declassification of 21 additional elements from at least nine documents from DoD in August 2012. These irritant chemicals were selected for human testing following preliminary animal studies. Veterans may file a claim for disability compensation for health problems they believe are related to exposures during Edgewood/Aberdeen chemical tests. II. The lawsuit quoted a 1954 report to President Dwight Eisenhower which urged him to approve the human testing program, "If the United states is to survive, long standing American concepts of fair play must be reconsidered.". 800-829-4833, Veterans Crisis Line: Fed the "F" up. After NPR's inquiry, the VA told NPR there was enough evidence to grant his claims. He filed claims for several illnesses on the VA's list of those linked to mustard gas, including skin cancer and chronic breathing problems. 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. Youre going to Vietnam either way before or after, Josephs said recently. This kind of behavior toward our veterans would not be allowed to happen, Erspamer said. Original photo: Courtesy of Charlie Cavell Officials at the Pentagon tell NPR it's likely that some of the records about military mustard gas experiments were never recovered. "There was no handle on the door. The heart of the film is interviews with a group of veterans who participated in the testing program, mostly during the Vietnam War era. ), Nerve agent reactivators, e.g. Initially, such studies focused solely on the lethality of the gases and its treatment and prevention. Over a period of 20 years, more than 7,000 volunteers spent an estimated total of 14,000 months at Edgewood Arsenal. From 1955 to 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted classified medical studies at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. Nine workers, of whom eight were African-American, were killed in the . The 1945 Edgewood Arsenal explosion killed twelve munitions workers and injured more than fifty on May 25, 1945. That adds up to 1,167 man-years of survival. The whole thing stinks, and if the American people knew about it, they would not tolerate it. Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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 . The U.S. Army believed that legal liability could be avoided by concealing the experiments. 1, 24), stated: [In 1993 and 1994] we [] reported that the Army Chemical Corps conducted a classified medical research program for developing incapacitating agents. Researchers there had recorded his full name in neat handwriting on lined paper. To apply, eligible veterans must have: . Erspamer said Josephs probably received an injection of sarin or another nerve gas, because the records show that he received the drug P2S on February 1, 1968, to treat organophosphate poisoning.. I feel like in my heart there's a lot of guys out there that went through the same thing I did," Paul said. Three test subjects enter a gas chamber, which will fill with mustard gas, as part of the military's secret chemical warfare testing in March 1945. NPR Photo Editor Ariel Zambelich and reporters Christopher Groskopf, Jani Actman and Lydia Emmanouilidou also contributed to this story. Some of the volunteers exhibited certain symptoms at the time of exposure to these agents. The Marine Corps is eliminating the scout sniper program as part of the service's big Force Design 2030 overhaul. "If I were back in Congress, I'd be asking that question.". 877-222-8387, TDD (Hearing Impaired) All Rights Reserved. The Edgewood Arsenal continued to produce chemical agents and countermeasures in case they became necessary. 31 subjects experienced ocular exposure via direct CS application to their eyes. . And in this case I'm afraid the answer is not yet. Veterans who have a disease or injury they believe is related to the testing may seek treatment from the Army, according to the Armys Office of the Surgeon General. 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. [13] Some additional information in the section cited from the Course was based on a 1993 IOM study, Veterans at Risk: Health Effects of Mustard Gas and Lewisite. The Army is required to provide medical care to veterans who took part in classified Army testing of chemical and biological substances decades ago, officials say. Va told NPR there was enough evidence to grant his claims selected for human testing preliminary. Case they became necessary the testing program from 1942 to 1975 exposed to mustard.! 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