[Notes: This was written by testvet6778 and was originally posted in orange. As the topic is, I believe, generally not known by some/many and extremely important, I am re-posting it here. It is also in the process of being xposted on other sites. (.pdf files are linked to in original diary.)]
I am a TEST VET.
We took an oath of secrecy. Honorable men keep their oaths. But there is no honor in protecting the predators who used us and then abandoned us. It is time for the TEST VETS to speak out.
On August 25th, I will be 51 years old. I have had a stroke, 7 heart attacks, a failed triple bypass, heart ejection fraction of 25%, COPD, skin abnormalities, foot fungus and rashes. This all started in 1992 when I was 36. I am in contact with 11 other “test vets” and we all have heart problems and multiple health issues. We are all ignored by the VA
Why the Fuck won’t anyone ask Cheney and Rumsfeld about their Chemical Weapons and drug experiments in 1974 and 1975? While they were in the Ford Administration, Cheney and Rumsfeld, violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947 by using enlisted men as human test subjects for chemical warfare. From 1952 thru 1975, they used 7120 enlisted men in these experiments.
The health study contacted the participants in 2000 and found that 75% of them were either dead or disabled.
continued
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES wrote the following report:
Long-Term Health Effects of Exposure to Sarin and Other Anticholinesterase Chemical Warfare Agents
During the period from 1955-1975, the U.S. Army conducted a series of experiments at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland in which military volunteers were exposed to various kinds of substances, including chemical warfare agents such as sarin and other anticholinesterases. This is the second survey done to examine the adverse long-term effects of known exposure in the volunteers from the Edgewood experiments.
In this current study, the Medical Follow-up Agency of the Institute of Medicine conducted a telephone survey of 4,022 military volunteers to compare the current health of those exposed to anticholinesterase agents with the health of men in two other control groups: those who had been exposed to other substances and those who had been exposed to no active agents. The telephone survey asked about general health, but was mostly focused on neurological and psychological health problems. This is because there is some evidence that exposure to pesticides-which chemically resemble anticholinesterase agents and thus might be expected to produce similar health effects from exposure-can cause neurological and psychological health problems.
[snip]
This study was funded by Army grant DAMD17-99-1-9485 and appears in Military Medicine: International Journal of AMSUS, Volume 168(3): 239, March 2003.
All this time the DOD and the VA have been claiming Gulf War Syndrome is a mental problem when they have known for years that exposure to sarin and mustard agents causes serious health problems, circulatory (heart) pulmonary, gastrointestinal and neurological.
The United States used chemical weapons and DRUGS on their own soldiers three decades ago without their full knowledge and consent. 4300 men were either killed or disabled. Some of the deceased men left behind widows who are not receiving their husband’s veterans benefits.
Veterans at Risk: The Health Effects of Mustard Gas and Lewisite (1993)
Institute of Medicine
Executive Summary
BACKGROUND
By the time the war ended, over 60,000 U.S. servicemen had been used as human subjects in this chemical defense research program. At least 4,000 of these subjects had participated in tests conducted with high concentrations of mustard agents or Lewisite in gas chambers or in field exercises over contaminated ground areas. The human subjects had experienced a wide range of exposures to mustard agents or Lewisite, from mild (a drop of agent on the arm in “patch” tests) to quite severe (repeated gas chamber trials, sometimes without protective clothing). All of the men in the chamber and field tests, and some of the men in the patch tests, were told at the time that they should never reveal the nature of the experiments. Almost to a man, they kept this secret for the next 40 or more years.
[snip]
The levels of exposure to mustard agents or Lewisite experienced by the human subjects may have been much higher than inferred in the summaries of the gas chamber and field tests.
[snip]* Chronic bronchitis
* Emphysema
* Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
* Chronic laryngitis
* Recurrent corneal ulcerative disease (Includes corneal opacities; acute severe injuries to eye from Lewisite will also persist.)
* Delayed recurrent keratitis of the eye
* Chronic conjunctivitis
* Bone marrow depression and (resulting) immunosuppression (An acute effect that may result in greater susceptibility to serious infections with secondary permanent damage to vital organ systems.)
* Psychological disorders
o Mood disorders
o Anxiety disorders (including post-traumatic stress disorder)
o Other traumatic stress disorder responses (These may result from traumatic or stressful features of the exposure experience, not a toxic effect of the agents themselves.)
* Sexual dysfunction (Scrotal and penile scarring may prevent or inhibit normal sexual performance or activity.)
The evidence found suggested a causal relationship between exposure and the following health conditions:
* Leukemia (acute nonlymphocytic type, sulfur mustard)
* Reproductive dysfunction (genotoxicity, mutagenicity, etc.; mustard agents)
There was insufficient evidence found to demonstrate a causal relationship between exposure and the following health conditions:
* Gastrointestinal diseases
* Hematologic diseases
* Neurological diseases
* Reproductive dysfunction (Lewisite)
* Cardiovascular diseases (Except for those that may result from serious infections shortly following exposure–heart disease resulting from rheumatic fever, for example.)
RECOMMENDATIONS
There are large gaps in all areas of the knowledge base about the long-term health risks associated with exposure to mustard agents and Lewisite. For example, very little is known about the long-term effects on specific organ systems from studies in animals. The data from human studies lack precise information about the exposure levels in occupational settings. After consideration of these gaps in light of the commit-
[snip]
The committee recommends that the VA and DoD publicly announce and widely advertise that personnel exposed to mustard agents or Lewisite during their service are released from any oath of secrecy taken at the time. In addition, professional educational materials should be prepared by the VA or DoD, or both, and made available for physicians who may be treating affected individuals. These materials should incorporate the latest information regarding the long-term health effects of exposure to mustard agents and Lewisite.
There is no doubt that the long-term health consequences of exposure to mustard agents or Lewisite can be serious and, in some cases, devastating. This report has demonstrated that complete knowledge of these long-term consequences has been and still is sorely lacking, resulting in great costs to some of those exposed in WWII.
The Edgewood Arsenal test are described on pages 17-20 of the Veterans Administration manual on the Cold War tests. (.pdf) There are 2 pages in the book that claim there are NO KNOWN tests to see if anyone was exposed to either chemical weapons or pesticides months later, let alone decades later.
This GAO report from FY 2004 shows that DOD told them, they would not be able to find the 7120 veterans of the Edgewood Chemical Weapons tests until 2009. They have the names and addresses of all the men still alive and probably of the widows because the year before that the IOM released the Sarin Report paid for by the DOD. Rick Edrtman of the IOM at 202-734-1925 has said as soon as DOD authorizes him to give the VA the names and addresses he will. The DOD won’t do it. Why?
These two documents show that Congressmen Lane Evans and Ted Strickland tried to get the VA to contact us themselves and keep DOD out of it. They sent VA Secretary James Nicholson the lists of the 2300 men of Fort Detricks Biological tests and the 7120 names of the Edgewood Arsenal test veterans, his reply shows how he buried the lists at DOD for Rumsfeld and Cheney.
Honorable R. James Nicholson
Secretary
Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20420Dear Mr. Secretary:
In the past, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has sent letters to veterans identified as being previously exposed to hazardous chemical, biological or radiological environments while on active duty and who have the potential for presumptive or related, service-connected conditions. We have previously expressed our interest in VA providing veterans with notice of such exposure and of the potential service-connection of conditions related to that exposure. VA has sometimes been unable to provide veterans with individual notice because of difficulties collecting lists of participants exposed to the hazardous condition. We understand that VA is generally dependent on the Department of Defense (DoD) for providing such lists.
Enclosed are sealed sets of lists of names of individuals who were exposed to potentially hazardous materials while participating in tests or programs at Fort Detrick, Maryland, or Edgewood, Maryland, for the period 1954 through the present. In many cases, the lists provide specifics regarding the exposure associated with the individual’s name and service number. We ask VA to provide written notice to the living veterans named on these lists who may have an illness or injury related to their participation in the programs or tests managed at the two DoD facilities listed above.
Mr. Secretary, the limiting factor in VA’s due diligence in this arena has been its ability to secure lists of participants from the DoD. Our proactive approach to this issue quickly yielded the enclosed lists, which we understand contain approximately 10,000 names. We expect that you should be able to
determine address information on the living veterans through VA health and insurance records and by using VA’s authority to cross match data with the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.
We ask that you provide us with a timetable for sending notice, as appropriate, to the listed individuals who you are able to determine are still alive. I am requesting this be done no later than May, 27, 2005, and to complete the mailing of all notices no later than 120 days after that date. Democratic Committee staff point of contact is Mr. Len Sistek, 202-225-9756.
Sincerely,
LANE EVANS
TED STICKLANDRanking Democratic Member
Subcommittee on Oversight and investigationsEnclosures as stated
Response from VA blowing Congressman Evan off (pdf)
The only conclusion I can come to is that to “find” these men and their widows now would cause these very “honored and high ranking officials”, a lot of embarrassment and generate a lot of questions about their their treatment of their own soldiers.
VA ACCUSED OF FOOT-DRAGGING IN NOTIFYING “TEST VETS” — VETERANS EXPOSED TO CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL AGENTS ARE STILL WAITING FOR NOTIFICATION FROM THE VA — WHY IS THIS? — ONE VET SAYS: “THEY REALLY DON’T WANT TO DO IT…IF YOU WAIT LONG ENOUGH, WE’LL ALL BE DEAD.”
By Lisa Friedman, From our Washington bureauWASHINGTON — Thousands of former servicemen who volunteered for chemical and biological tests in the 1960s and 70s might have been exposed to highly toxic substances that could jeopardize their health, and the U.S. government is scrambling to locate them.
The new list of nearly 7,000 names provided last year to the Department of Veterans Affairs servicemen who allowed themselves to be exposed to a range of agents, from nerve gases to Tularemia significantly increases the number of veterans who could become eligible for disability benefits.
[snip]
“When you sign on the dotted line, you sign up for a broad spectrum of risks. But just because you were a volunteer does not mean America doesn’t have a duty to you.”
2098 dead and 2200 disabled
Who is going to help these widows and vets?
Demanding the world hold Saddam accountable for his actions, seems a tad bit hypocritical now doesn’t it?
