The Biowarriors
Richard Sanders
2001-11-07 05:35:42

On dozens of separate occasions since the Second World War, biological weapons have been used against innocent U.S. civilians. These actions were perpetrated not by foreign terrorists but by the U.S. Army during secret "open-air" biowarfare experiments that used the American public as guinea pigs.

One of the main sources of information on this history is an unclassified Special Report to Congress by the U.S. Army called: "U.S. Army Activity in the U.S. Biological Warfare Programs, 1942-1977. Vols 1 and 2," that was published on February 24, 1977.

In quotations from four sources excerpted below, you'll see that:
* In 1951, African American citizens were deliberately targeted to determine whether they were more susceptible than whites to disease caused by certain biological agents.

* The U.S. Army deliberately released biological weapons on thousands of citizens living in the San Francisco Bay area, California; Tampa Bay, Florida, Savannah, Georgia; New York City and elsewhere.

* A U.S. court said that the military could not be sued by family members of a San Fransisco victim who died when deliberately and unknowingly exposed to bioweapons during a U.S. Army experiment in 1950.

There is, however, no evidence that anyone has ever been investigated, let alone charged or convicted, for any of these well-documented cases in which biological weapons were used against U.S. civilians, even though written admissions of responsibility for the "experiments" are readily available on the public record.

1) The U.S. Biological Warfare and Biological Defense Programs
By David Franz, Ph.D, Cheryl Parrott and Ernest Takafuji.
Chapter 19
The biological warfare research program in the early 1940s and 1950s involved antipersonnel, anticrop, and, for a brief period, antianimal studies.8 Field trials included open-air vulnerability testing, and contamination of public water systems with live organisms such as Serratia marcescens. Covert programs were conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency. Pathogenic organisms were also tested in Florida and the Bahamas in the 1940s. Chemical anticrop studies evaluated defoliation and crop destruction. Explosive munitions tests with pathogens were begun in 1949. In 1950, the first open-air tests with biological simulants were conducted in various locales, one of which was off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia. This was followed by limited zinc cadmium sulfide dispersal tests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953; and Bacillus subtilis var niger dispersal in the New York City subway system in 1966.3,4

The Special Operations Division at Camp Detrick conducted much of the research on possible methods of covert attack and sabotage, and many environmental studies-often without informing local or state governmental agencies or the general population.

Between 1948 and 1950, several reviews were conducted by the Research Review Board of the biological, chemical, and radiological warfare programs. Recommendations included the creation of a specific biological warfare production facility, continued field tests with biological warfare agents and munitions, and expansion of the overall program. In 1949, an enclosed, 1-million-liter steel test sphere was built at Camp Detrick, and biological warfare explosive munitions tests with agents were begun

During the early 1950s, Major General George E. Armstrong, The U.S. Army Surgeon General (1951-1955) became concerned about medical defense issues. Lieutenant Colonel Abram S. Benenson, a medical officer from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, was appointed medical liaison with the biological warfare laboratories at Fort Detrick. A joint agreement was signed, and beginning in 1953, studies on medical defense against biological weapons were conducted cooperatively by the Chemical Corps and the U.S. Army Medical Department. In 1954, a congressionally approved medical volunteer program, designated "Project Whitecoat," was established after a series of meetings with representatives of the General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and The Surgeon General, U.S. Army.

Field Testing in the United States
The Korean War, which began in June 1950, added justification for continuing the biological warfare program, when the possible entry of the Soviet Union into the war was feared. Concerns over the Soviet Union were justified, for the Soviet Union would pronounce in 1956 that chemical and biological weapons would, indeed, be used for mass destruction in future wars.9 In October 1950, the secretary of defense approved continuation of the program, based largely on the Soviet threat and a belief that the North Korean and Chinese communists would use biological weapons.10

The first large-scale aerosol vulnerability test was conducted in the San Francisco Bay area in September 1950, using two species of bacteria (Bacillus globigii and Serratia marcescens) and fluorescent particles. Various Bacillus species were used in many experiments because of their spore-forming capabilities and their similarities to Bacillus anthracis. S marcescens was used because its red pigment made it readily identifiable. What was unexpected was the increased number of cases of Serratia infections over the next few years in communities that had been sprayed earlier with the organisms.4 The military considered the situations coincidental, but many civilian physicians believed them to be directly related. Other limited-scale field tests with pathogenic organisms were conducted at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Antianimal studies were conducted at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

The biological warfare research facilities at Camp Detrick were expanded, and a biological warfare production facility was created at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, in 1951. The first limited, biological warfare retaliatory capability was achieved when an anticrop bomb was developed, tested, and placed in production for the U.S. Air Force. Anticrop-agent production sites were carefully selected for safety with the coordination and approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This marked the first peacetime biological weapons production by the United States.11

By 1954, the Pine Bluff laboratory produced Brucella suis (the causative agent of brucellosis, also called undulant fever) and Francisella tularensis (tularemia, or rabbit fever). Hardware for antipersonnel biological cluster bombs was delivered to Pine Bluff for filling with Brucella suis to support air force requirements. By 1955, the accelerated program was producing stocks of B suis and F tularensis as biological warfare agents. While many of the efforts involved military researchers, others from the Public Health Service, other Federal departmental agencies, and civilian scientific institutions were also involved in the research.

The general public was uninformed of these on-going studies, especially the environmental and open-air experiments that were being conducted. A controversial environmental test occurred in 1951, when army researchers deliberately exposed a disproportionate number of black citizens to the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, to see if African Americans were more susceptible to such infection, like they were already known to be to coccidioidomycosis (Coccidioides immitis). Some in the scientific community believed that such knowledge would assist in preparing defenses against a more virulent form of this fungus. Similarly, in 1951, unsuspecting workers at the Norfolk Supply Center, Norfolk, Virginia, were exposed to crates contaminated with A fumigatus spores.

Needless to say, there was a public outcry several years later when much of this information was released, and the biological warfare research program would be forever tainted as operating within "clouds of secrecy."4 The first lawsuit against the U.S. government was filed by family members of an individual who had died, allegedly as a result of the San Francisco experiments in 1950. The court decided that the U.S. government could not be sued (under the Federal Tort Claims Act), since the decision to spray S marcescens was a part of national defense planning. Several of the organisms (such as S marcescens and A fumigatus), which were considered at one time to be innocuous, are now recognized to cause infections in humans, on occasion. Immunocompromised or debilitated persons appear to be at greatest risk. Early experiments conducted with such organisms involving subjects or populations who were unaware of the ongoing experiments may have posed a health risk to highly susceptible persons.

During the two decades following the second World War, laboratories for biological and chemical warfare research continued to increase in size, and programs were expanded with a multimillion dollar budget. The Fort Detrick research program was complemented by contractual civilian institutions; for example, Ohio State University was tasked with making vaccines. Human volunteers were used in many of the studies. Vaccines against diseases, such as Q fever and tularemia, were developed...."

1. Fox LA. Bacterial warfare: The use of biologic agents in warfare. Milit Surg. 1933;72(3):189-207.
2. Bernstein BJ. The birth of the US biological-warfare program. Sci Am. 1987;256:116-121.
3. Department of the Army. Special Report to Congress. U.S. Army Activity in the U.S. Biological Warfare Programs, 1942-1977. Vols 1 and 2. Washington, DC: DA. 24 Feb 1977. Unclassified.
4. Cole LA. Clouds of Secrecy: The Army's Germ Warfare Tests Over Populated Areas. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield; 1988.
5. Williams P, Wallace D. Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II. New York, NY: Free Press; 1989.
6. Report to the Secretary of War by Mr. George W. Merck, Special Consultant for Biological Warfare, 3 Jan 1946. Cited in: Department of the Army. Special Report to Congress. U.S. Army Activity in the U.S. Biological Warfare Programs, 1942-1977. Vol 2, annex 1. Washington, DC: DA. 24 Feb 1977. Unclassified.
7. Baldwin IL. Special BW Operations. Washington, DC: The National Military Establishment Research and Development Board; 5 Oct 1948. Memorandum for Executive Secretary, Research and Development Board. Unclassified.
8. Hersh SM. Chemical and Biological Warfare: America's Hidden Arsenal. Indianapolis, Ind: Bobbs-Merrill; 1968.
9. Geissler E, ed. Biological and Toxin Weapons Today (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press; 1986.
10. Harris R, Paxman J. A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret of Chemical and Biological Warfare. New York, NY: Hill and Wang; 1982.
11. Cowdrey AE. The Medics' War. Washington DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army; 1987.

2) The below quotation is from an online book at the CCCD website: The Chemical Casualty Care Division (CCCD), located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD is a division of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD). The USAMRICD is one of six medical research laboratories and institutes operated by the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC). (2)

DOD HAS DEMONSTRATED A PATTERN OF MISREPRESENTING THE DANGER OF VARIOUS MILITARY EXPOSURES THAT CONTINUES TODAY
Findings & Conclusions:
"According to Dr. Leonard Cole, professor at Rutgers University, the DOD has denied the possibility of harm from various exposures. However, in many instances the military belatedly recognized that some exposures may be causing disease and death. (Note 157) Such denial, however, delays the availability of medical assistance to those harmed.

For example, the military has released chemicals and biological agents through outdoor "open air" tests for over four decades. Some of these supposedly safe chemicals and biological agents, referred to as simulants, were also released over populated areas and cities. (Note 158) Although scientific evidence suggested that the tests may have caused illnesses to exposed citizens, the Army repeatedly claimed that these bacteria and chemicals were harmless until adverse health effects convinced them to change the simulants used. The death of Edward J. Nevin was associated with the release of one simulant, Serratia marcescens, over San Francisco in 1950. (Note 159) A subsequent court trial revealed that on September 26 and 27, 1950, the Army sprayed Serratia marcescens from a boat off the coast of San Francisco. (Note 160) On September 29, patients at the Stanford University Hospital in San Francisco began appearing with Serratia marcescens infections. Although the judge denied the validity of the plaintiffs' claims that the exposures were related to the death of Mr. Nevin, the trial raised frightening questions about the selection of simulants. Serratia marcescens is no longer used by the military as a simulant.

Dugway Proving Ground has been a site for "open air" testing of chemical and biological agents for decades. The purpose of the tests is to determine how the agents spread and survive, and their effect on people and the environment. Earl Davenport is a veteran who participated in tests at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, first as a military employee and later as a civilian employee. He became ill in 1984 after being exposed to a chemical simulant called DMMP (dimethyl methylphosphate). He had been spraying the chemical into the path of a laser beam when a sudden change in wind blew the chemical all over his face and hair before he was able to put on a protective mask. Although he was "wheezing and coughing" the next day, and his symptoms lasted for weeks, the Dugway Army Hospital merely gave him cough medicine and antibiotics. The Dugway Safety Office assured him that the chemical was safe. However, by 1988, officials at Dugway had reevaluated the simulant's danger, and were becoming concerned that DMMP could cause cancer and kidney damage. (Note 161) Mr. Davenport is currently attempting to obtain compensation for his illness from the Department of Labor, since his exposure occurred when he was employed at Dugway as a civilian.

In 1992, several military personnel from the Arizona National Guard experienced chemical burns during a summer training exercise at the Dugway Proving Grounds. According to two physicians, a daughter from one of the guardsmen also received chemical burns when she later handled her father's duffle bag. One of these doctors, Dr. Michael Vance, was contacted by military officials and encouraged to modify his written findings on the possible cause of the daughter's injury. (Note 162) He refused.

According to scientists and doctors from the University of Utah, there is great concern over the potential health consequences not only for military personnel who work and train at Dugway, but also for civilians who live in a small town and on an Indian reservation near the Proving Grounds. Moreover, physicians from the Utah Medical Society have complained about the lack of information provided to the medical community about the agents that are used in Dugway, despite repeated requests. (Note 163)

According to Dr. Cole, the use of potentially harmful chemical and biological agents continues at Dugway even today. For example, he testified that the Army uses a simulant called Bacillus subtilis, "which is fairly harmless in many natural conditions, [but] is recognized as a potential source of infection and can cause serious illness in some people when they are exposed to it in large numbers and they inhale large numbers of those microorganisms." (Note 164)

Dr. Cole also testified about the lack of informed consent at Dugway in recent months. For example, in November 1993, a test that was intended to evaluate whether chemical agents could penetrate protective clothing used informed consent forms that did not mention the chemicals. (Note 165)..."
Source: The 1994 Rockefeller Report, Examining Biological Experimentation on U.S. Military
3) Secrets At Sea: Cloud Of Secrecy Lifting On Dugway Navy's Tests Of Germ And Chemical Agents In The Pacific During Vietnam War
Sunday, October 22, 1995
By Lee Davidson, Washington Correspondent (Registry of Atmospheric Survivors)

"While the 1960s movie and TV series "The Wackiest Ship in the Army" poked fun at the idea of the Army sailing ships, the Army's Dugway Proving Ground and Fort Douglas actually had a secret navy to test germ and chemical arms in the Pacific.

Unlike the Hollywood comedies about World War II, Dugway's Vietnam War era work was deadly serious:
- Their ships sailed through clouds of germ and chemical agents, and some sailors now blame cancer and other diseases they suffer on it - or on the mix of chemicals used for decontamination.

- While germ and chemical tests usually occurred in remote areas oft he Pacific for safety and secrecy, at least one test was conducted in San Francisco Bay.

- Some of the ships had already been contaminated by radiation when used earlier as test ships during ocean nuclear bomb tests - which sailors also say may have sickened them.

- The ships also conducted tests designed to see if migratory birds could be infected far from an enemy's shores to later fly in and spread diseases - or whether examining birds from afar could show if enemies were working with deadly germs.

- One of the sailors says he was even sent into Laos and Cambodia to discharge germ and chemical weapons for tests - which, if true, likely violated treaties.

The story about Dugway's navy emerges from once-secret documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Deseret News and from interviews with sailors involved ...."

4) Beyond AIDS: The West's Covert Chemical-Biological Warfare Programs

".... In 1977, for the first time, the U.S. Army admitted carrying out hundreds of chemical and biological warfare tests since World War II, including at least 25 that targeted civilian populations. Previously classified records show that between 1951 and 1967, on at least 48 occasions the Army used disease-causing microbes in open-air tests and, that on at least 31 other occasions, anti-crop substances were knowingly discharged into the environment. Some especially outrageous highlights were the following:
In 1950, the U.S. Navy secretly sprayed a cloud of Serratia marcescens bacteria over San Francisco. The Navy later claimed the bacteria used in the simulated attack were harmless, but many residents came down with pneumonia-like symptoms and one died. Although the military did not carry out many follow up studies on these tests, one showed that nearly every single person became infected with the test organism....
In 1955 the Tampa Bay area of Florida experienced a sharp rise in Whooping Cough cases, including 12 deaths, following a CIA bio-war test where a bacteria withdrawn from the Army's Chemical and Biological Warfare arsenal was released into the environment. Details of the test are still classified.

Between 1956 and 1958 in the poor black communities of Savannah, Georgia and Avon Park, Florida, the Army carried out field tests in which mosquitoes were released into residential neighbourhoods both from ground level and dropped from planes and helicopters. Many people were swarmed by mosquitoes, and developed unknown fevers; some even died. After each test, U.S. Army personnel posing as public health officials photographed and tested the victims and then disappeared from town. It is theorized that the mosquitoes were infected with a strain of Yellow Fever. However, details of the testing remain classified....

From June 7th to 10th 1966, the U.S. Army's Special Operations Division (SOD) dispensed a bacillus throughout the New York City subway system. The Army's justification for the experiment was the fact that there are many subways in the (former) Soviet Union, Europe, and South America. Although there are no harmful effects known for this release, details of the experiment are still classified...."
Richard Sanders is the coordinator of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT).

For more commentary and information on this subject, please refer to his article: "The History of Bioterrorism in America: White Power, White Powder and the White House"