Vets To Testify On Secret Weapons Tests

House Hearing To Focus On Benefits For Cold War-Era Soldiers Allegedly Sickened By Chemicals

(AP)  Jack Alderson was ordered never to talk about the secret weapons tests he helped conduct in the Pacific during the 1960s. He kept quiet for decades.

Sparse attendance at a 1993 reunion prompted Alderson, a retired Navy Reserve lieutenant commander, to speak out. He learned that more than half of the 500 or so crew members who took part in the tests were either dead or suffering from cancer, respiratory problems or other ailments. Alderson wondered whether his own skin cancers, allergies and chronic fatigue were linked to those tests or were simply the result of aging.

"I was told by my bosses and the docs and so forth that if you follow these routines ... you're going to be OK," Alderson, 74, said in an interview. "We did exactly as told. And we're finding out now that we're sick."

Alderson and other witnesses were to testify Thursday before a House Veterans Affairs panel considering legislation that would require more Pentagon disclosure about the Cold War-era germ and chemical weapons testing and extend benefits to veterans who participated in them. A similar bill is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee later this month.

Lawmakers say the legislation is needed because the Pentagon has not acknowledged a link between the tests and health problems, which has made it difficult for veterans to get health coverage. Pentagon officials don't rule out a health link but say it's tough to prove.

"We cannot say that this exposure 40 years ago had absolutely no health effect," said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, the Pentagon's deputy director for force health protection and readiness. "I don't think any physician would risk saying that. Because how do you prove that that's the case?"

A similar debate took place around Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant used by U.S. forces in Vietnam that was linked to cancer and other ailments in those exposed to it. At Congress' insistence in the late 1980s, the government extended benefits to veterans and their children suffering from Agent Orange-related diseases.

The bill under consideration Thursday, by Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., is patterned after the Agent Orange legislation.

In testimony prepared for the hearing, obtained in advance by The Associated Press, Bradley Mayes, the Veterans Affairs Department's director of compensation and pensions, calls the legislation unnecessary, "due to the lack of credible scientific and medical evidence that adequately demonstrates any statistically significant correlation" between the tests and participants' diseases.

Last year, the Institute of Medicine, which advises the government on medical and health matters, found no specific health effects as a result of Project SHAD - Shipboard Hazard and Defense. Alderson, Thompson and others argue that the report was shoddily done and left out key information.

"It started out being a secret project and turned into being a CYA type of thing, you know, cover your rear end. And an embarrassment," Thompson said of the tests and their aftermath.

Action from Congress would be a relief to Alderson, who lives modestly in Ferndale, Calif., among the redwoods north of San Francisco. His home is decorated with stacks of documents about his days in charge of a fleet of five light tugboats that were sprayed with biological agents and cleaned afterward with solvents, some of which now are considered carcinogenic.

During the tests, conducted amid Cold War concerns about the Soviet Union's weapons capabilities, the military tested germs such as bacteria that could cause tularemia and Q fever, serious diseases more commonly found in animals. Also used were nonlethal simulated agents, including E. coli, now known to pose health dangers.

Test participants were given experimental vaccines but weren't told of any risks, only that the shots were a protective measure, Alderson said. Project SHAD also involved spraying service members aboard large Navy ships.

Kilpatrick acknowledges that some participants weren't fully informed about the project they were part of but says safety precautions taken then were appropriate for the time.

Alderson said he has pressed the Pentagon for answers about the secret tests because he feels he owes that to the crews he commanded.

In 1995, Alderson got a copy of a letter that the Navy's medicine and surgery bureau sent to his then-congressman, Rep. Frank Riggs, stating they had no records of Project SHAD. Six years later, after continued questioning from Riggs and Thompson, the Pentagon began to publicly release details on the existence of Project SHAD and its umbrella program, Project 112, which involved distribution of nonlethal bacteria and occasionally real chemical or biological weapons.

The Defense Department now says 6,440 service members took part in 50 tests under Project 112 between 1962 and 1973, including open-air tests above a half-dozen U.S. states.

[inventagod2]

When you sign up to kill for a president, you are taking your life in your hands.
There are better choices you could make...

[im_dopes]

"including open-air tests above a half-dozen U.S. states"

We deserve to hear more about THIS...

[dobbershome]

I guarantee you none were dropped in the D.C. area.

[forthepeopl1]

SO NOW THE FIRST LADY IS USING THE AMERICAN TAX PAYERS CREDIT CARD!!!!

NICE AMERICANS STARVING,LOSEING THEIR HOMES,AND OUR GREAT LEADERS STILL GIVEING BILLIONS TO COUNTRYS THAT HIDE BIN LADEN, AND WILL NOT LET US GO INTO THE HILLS TO GET HIM.



U.S. first lady Laura Bush told participants at the conference that the United States would contribute more than $10 billion in aid. She said donor countries must not turn their backs on Afghanistan, saying the country has reached a "decisive moment" for its future.

Germany has also announced it will give $653 million toward redevelopment efforts in Afghanistan over the next two years. Norway has pledged $730 million over the next five years.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the United States will deliver its aid over two years. She acknowledged that there are concerns about corruption in Afghanistan, but she said she believes President Karzai understands the corrosive nature of corruption and is looking for help.

[lwaxana]

The open air tests came out in the "open" when CIA documents were declassified years ago and made public. They did open-air speading of things like influenza. You can look it up and read more yourself since the documents are publicly available and declassified.

[mudrose-2009]

U.S. first lady Laura Bush told participants at the conference that the United States would contribute more than $10 billion in aid. She said donor countries must not turn their backs on Afghanistan, saying the country has reached a "decisive moment" for its future.

Germany has also announced it will give $653 million toward redevelopment efforts in Afghanistan over the next two years. Norway has pledged $730 million over the next five years.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the United States will deliver its aid over two years. She acknowledged that there are concerns about corruption in Afghanistan, but she said she believes President Karzai understands the corrosive nature of corruption and is looking for help.

Posted by forthepeopl1

Hey if the entire Congress can use US Taxpayer Credit Cards, the First Lady can too. And if the rest of the dolts here in America were responsible, then maybe the wouldn''t have defaulted on their mortgages and used their credit cards to pay for them as a way to catch up. What the fkkk is wrong with you a-holes? Why don''t you got live in France, England or Canada since you like Marxism so d/amn much.

[mudrose-2009]

I guarantee you none were dropped in the D.C. area.
Posted by dobbershome

A shame that anthrax didn''t do it either.

[tawpdawg11]

The open air tests came out in the "open" when CIA documents were declassified years ago and made public. They did open-air speading of things like influenza. You can look it up and read more yourself since the documents are publicly available and declassified.

Posted by lwaxana at 10:09 AM : Jun 12, 2008


Naw! Naw! Naw!........Gawd BLESS America!

[hissteps4u]

It is a down right shame that such tests can be carried out right under our noses and the military can be so absent of any kind of rational in subjecting their own troops to such things. I was in the Military during the Viet Nam war and I am simply outraged at this and Hope Congress will do the right thing and Ban such tests in the future and forever more. God what have we come to as a Nation?

[j-whitman]

mudrose,,,, What are you going to do, mail out more Anthrax bombs ????

[mclark151]

My Husband was a part of SHAD. 2 months ago he was told he has lung cancer (NEVER SMOKED). Do I think it was cause by project SHAD? YES!!!!!!!!!!!

[jimedinco]

because today at a older age and finding out I was in that operation shad some years ago and did lots of reading what effects it could have on one being sprayed with the chemicals they use today as i sit here i do wonder if today they are still using unwitted service men as Quinnea Pigs i do feel as if i were a Quinnea Pig and I also belive the V A is totally worthless I also belive the Gov should find there part in all they did and make right