I am convinced that it is possible, by means of the techniques of psychochemical warfare, to conquer an enemy without the wholesale killing of his people or the mass destruction of his property," he wrote the classified report "Psychochemical Warfare: A New Concept of War,"per The New Yorker. have hearing loss, Anticholinesterase nerve agents (ex., sarin and common organophosphorus (OP), and carbamate pesticides), Nerve agent antidotes atropine and scopolamine, Nerve agent reactivators (ex., the common OP antidote 2-PAM chloride), Psychoactive agents (ex., LSD, PCP, cannaboids, and BZ). Long-term psychological effects are possible from the trauma associated with being a human test subject. Veterans may file a claim for disability compensation for health problems they believe are related to exposures during Edgewood/Aberdeen chemical tests. As one Army scientist explained, the military wanted to learn how to induce symptoms such as "fear, panic, hysteria, and hallucinations" in enemy soldiers. The Edgewood Arsenal human experiments took place from approximately 1948 to 1975 at the Medical Research Laboratorieswhich is now known as the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD)at the Edgewood Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Advancing Voluntary, Informed Consent to Medical Intervention. Long-term follow-up was not planned as part of the DoD studies. In addition,NPR reports that sometimes, the experiments were also grouped by race "to see what effect these gasses would have on black skins.". These historical photographs depict the forearms of human test . Office of Accountability & Whistleblower Protection, Training - Exposure - Experience (TEE) Tournament, Military Exposure Related Health Concerns, War Related Illness & Injury Study Center, Clinical Trainees (Academic Affiliations), Learn more from the Department of Defense, Review and Approach to Evaluating Long-term Health Effects in Army Test Subjects, Find out if you qualify for VA health care, Call TTY if you The vast majority of "experiments" occurring at Edgewood Arsenal did not involve human-use research. They tell tales about men being gassed and burned.". These men aren't polished or rehearsed, and the filmmakers let them have their say, even when things veer into pure speculation. Attention A T users. In early summer of 1951, officials within the CIAs Security Office working in tandem with cleared scientists from Camp Detricks Special Operations Division and worked closely with a select group of scientists from a number of other Army installations, including Edgewood Arsenal began a series of ultra-secret experiments with LSD, mescaline, peyote, and a synthesized substance, sometimes nicknamed Smasher, which combined an LSD-like drug with pharmaceutical amphetamines and other enhancers. (Kaye and Albarelli. BTW, I am not endorsing the article's quality otherwise, which is very low indeed. One of the most noteworthy substances was sarin gas. Further confirmations came in the 1980s, when the Institute of Medicine produced a three-volume report at the Army's request regarding the long-term health of Edgewood veterans entitled "Possible Long-Term Health Effects of Short-Term Exposure to Chemical Agents." On July 24, 2013, United States District Court Judge Claudia Wilken issued an order granting in part and denying in part plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and granting in part and denying in part defendants' motion for summary judgment. ", In 2004, the General Accounting Office also determined that although some of the people used in human experimentation were eventually identified and informed of their contact, there were likely "service members and civilian personnel potentially exposed to agents who have not been identified for various reasons.". If they keep quiet, they won't be able to get the medical help required to treat the lingering mental damage caused them. In total, Army documents identified 7,120 Army and Air Force personnel who participated in these tests. 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]." A small portion of these studies were directed at psychochemical warfare and grouped under the . Rep., at 411.[5])[20]. DO NOT return the document to U. S. Army Edgewood Arsenal Chemical Research and Development Laboratories (David Martin. The veterans were guinea pigs in a massive military-funded and controlled human drug experiment program, which shows that, among other drugs like Mescaline . Although some sort of consent form was given to the service members at some point, it's questionable if any of the soldiers were fully informed about the experiments they were participating in. While early experiments with marijuana and LSD get plenty of discussion, much of the long-term damage seems to result from experimentation with the powerful incapacitating agent 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate, commonly known as BZ. Exposure was typically through aerosol, dermal, or eye application. He suffers from PTSD as a result of an in service injuryspecifically, as "a cumulative response to his participation as a human subject in the Edgewood Arsenal experiments and subsequent re- Please switch auto forms mode to off. Two TV documentaries, with different content but confusingly similar titles were broadcast: In 2012, the Edgewood/Aberdeen experiments were featured on CNN and in, This page was last edited on 30 November 2022, at 16:44. The Edgewood Arsenal human experiments lasted from the 1950s to the 1970s. Top secret Army experiments exposed thousands of veterans to potential chemical and biological weapons. [10], According to a DOD FAQ, the Edgewood Arsenal experiments involved the following "rough breakout of volunteer hours against various experimental categories":[11]. But many of their experiments had their origins at Edgewood. ", Although these experiments were more common at the Edgewood facility during the Second World War, they continued well after the conflict ended. Jan 08, 2009 #1. Edgewood Arsenal human experiments Published 2016 Medicine From 1948 to 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted classified human subject research at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. 8s. Call: 988 (Press 1), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington DC 20420. Mustard agent was also used in the human experiments at the Edgewood facility in various forms. A classified report entitled "Psychochemical Warfare: A New Concept of War" was produced in 1949 by Luther Wilson Greene, Technical Director of the Chemical and Radiological Laboratories at Edgewood. None of us knew the kind of drugs they gave us or the after-effects they'd have." Greene, L. Wilson, "Psychochemical Warfare: A New Concept of War", U. S. Army Chemical Center, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland; August 1949. In "Hard Right Turn," Jerry Carrier writes that many Nazi doctors and scientists were recruited by the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, and many werebrought to the Edgewood facility. Copyright 2023 Military.com. at 149 (noting that Mr. Taylor was awarded ben-efits for PTSD and for TDIU). 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. The practice of psychotherapy depends not only on knowledge. Further, GAO concluded that precise information on the scope and the magnitude of tests involving human subjects was not available, and the exact number of human subjects might never be known. With regard specifically to BZ and related compounds, the IOM study concluded that "available data suggest that long-term toxic effects and/or delayed sequellae are unlikely". But considering the limited information provided by the U.S. Army, the General Accounting Office concluded that "precise information on the scope and the magnitude of tests involving human subjects was not available, and the exact number of human subjects might never be known. The New Yorker reports that psychochemical warfare was officially added to Edgewood's research roster in the mid-1950s, and soldiers were recruited from all around the country using the Medical Research Volunteer Program. 3. All rights reserved. Its success, like that of the surgeon, depends on an experienced and. The 1975 report by the U.S. Army Inspector General called "Use of Volunteers in Critical Agent Research" writes that "the lack of factual information available to quickly respond to the inquiries illustrated an inadequacy of the Army's institutional memory on this subject area. 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 . - Since 1917, a peninsula in Maryland formed by the Bush and Gunpowder Rivers has played a major role in the United States' chemical and biological defense program. Initially, such studies focused solely on the lethality of the gases and its treatment and prevention. App. 1, "Anticholinesterases and Anticholinergics" (1982). People who were given less protection often suffered from "severe burns to the genital areas, including cases of crusted lesions to the scrotum. A lawsuit was filed last week by eight U.S. military veterans against, virtually, every branch of the Defense Department, including Veterans Affairs and even Attorney General Eric Holder. According to "Celebrating 85 Years of CB Solutions," the Edgewood facility was instrumental in supporting the Vietnam War with riot control agents. By Charles Berg, M.D. "Incapacitating chemical agents": Law enforcement, human rights law and policy perspectives. "[5] This was alarming enough to a Harvard psychiatrist, E. James Lieberman, that he published an article entitled "Psychochemicals as Weapons" in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1962. [21], On appeal in Vietnam Veterans of America v. Central Intelligence Agency, a panel majority held in July 2015 that Army Regulation 70-25 (AR 70-25) created an independent duty to provide ongoing medical care to veterans who participated in U.S. chemical and biological testing programs. Expert meeting report. These experiments were conducted primarily to learn how various agents would affect humans. For two decades, the Edgewood Arsenal had been the site of disturbing experiments on unwitting soldiers, many of whom were left with lasting physical and psychological damage as a result. You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links. Subscribe to the Military.com newsletter to have military news, updates and resources delivered straight to your inbox. These experiments were conducted primarily to learn how various agents would affect humans (NRC 1982). File a claim online. The 1975 U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Health and Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure also found that "the consent information was inadequate by current standards," per Possible Long-Term Health Effects of Short-Term Exposure to Chemical Agents. June 09, 2022 A new documentary titled "Dr. Delirium and The Edgewood Experiments" walks through the American military's 20-year experiments on people using psychedelic drugs like PCP and LSD. The final chapter of Edgewood Arsenal's history is ongoing, as are the stories of the individuals who suffered at the testing facility. They. Records indicate that between 1955 and 1965, of the 6,720 soldiers tested, only 147 human subjects underwent exposure to mustard agent at Edgewood (NRC 1982). II. You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links. For two decades during the Cold War, the United States Army tested chemical weapons on American soldiers at Edgewood Arsenal, a secluded research facility on the Chesapeake Bay. But over half a century later, they continue to be less than forthcoming about the experiments, even with their own subjects. According to CNN, the Institute of Medicine determined that there wasn't enough information to form "definitive conclusions. List and description of film footage from Edgewood Arsenal, Fort Detrick and NBC/CBS of recording biological and chemical warfare test, trials of techniques for release of such weapons, some of which have been requested under FOI; also contains a list of films in the 'FT Archive', 9 Dec 1992; quotes from the Chemical Corps 1962 film 'Armour for . TheUSmilitary also used Edgewood to distribute new methods of biological warfare. Over a period of 20 years, more than 7,000 volunteers spent an estimated total of 14,000 months at Edgewood Arsenal. Per NPR, though veteran Harry Bollinger, who participated in the human experiments, is proud of his service, "that time in his life is tainted: by the pain he felt as a human test subject in military experiments, and by the VA that told him it wasn't real. After World War II, U.S. military researchers obtained formulas for the three nerve gases developed by the Nazistabun, soman, and sarinand conducted studies on them at the US Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. Watching soldiers suffer through delirium and panic attacks while older survivors describe their experiences makes for powerful viewing. 1982-85 IOM report According to "Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare," the U.S. Army also conducted nerve agent testing experiments in Hawaii between 1966 and 1967. There were also conventional chemicals tested for warfare applications-mustard gas, lewisite, and so on. The volunteerparticipants became unsuspecting guinea pigsexposed to nefarious contaminants and dangerous conditions that impacted their physical and mental health. See Taylor IV, 31 Vet. They built a gas chamber out of a salvaged naval vessel and told soldiers they were testing summer clothing. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to test protective clothing, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. If you are concerned about exposures during Edgewood/Aberdeen chemical tests, talk to your health care provider or yourlocal environmental health provider. 3. These are the most notorious spies with the most successful espionage missions in history. Renewed interest led to renewed human testing by the Department of Defense (DoD), although ultimately on a much smaller scale. "Dr. Delirium & the Edgewood Experiments" is a new Discovery+ documentary (available on June 9, 2022) that chronicles the program and its long-term effects on the soldiers who participated in. 2, "Cholinesterase Reactivators, Psychochemicals and Irritants and Vesicants, Vol. The purpose was to . Edgewood Arsenal initially covered 8,000 acres in Maryland and, by 1918, had four plants churning out chlorine,chloropicrin,phosgene, and mustard gas. This isn't the first time that the United States government has experimented on its own citizens. Improved Synthesis of EA 1464 and Preparation of its Corresponding Di-(Hydrogen Oxalate) Salt, EA 3669. The IOM committee requested declassification of 21 additional elements from at least nine documents from DoD in August 2012. According to the U.S. Army Inspector General's report on the "Use of Volunteers in Chemical Research," the experiments included exposing nerve gas liquid to human skin and nerve gas vapor to the respiratory tract, studying the effects of nerve gas on nervous and mental functions, and comparing the effects of nerve gas liquids, vapors, and aerosols on skin. In 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps officially ended its classified human subject research program at the Edgewood Arsenal facility in Maryland.