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Pentagon Withholds Cold War Medical Data

AP 1 hour, 40 minutes ago

By ROBERT GEHRKE, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon (news - web sites)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, land, 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.

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 , 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 , 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. "

--

Patilla DaHun

" You don't have to work to be perfect -

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