GIs Used As Guinea Pigs for Experiments with Chemical Weapons

Ken Lamb had just completed Airborne "jump" school at Ft. Bragg in 1966 when his commander asked for volunteers for some "experiments" at Ft. Detrick, MD. He remembers that it was the promise of a three-day pass, which would allow him to see his fiancée in New York, that clinched the deal. It was only thirty years later, after he'd been diagnosed with inoperable cancer that Ken learned that Army scientists had deliberately exposed him to VX, a deadly chemical nerve agent.

Ken recalls that prior to the VX experiment he was placed in a hospital-like room where the researchers were wearing medical garb. After a drop of VX was placed on his forearm, Lamb began to experience nausea, dizziness, and numbness and he was sent to a medical facility. After a day of observation, he was sent back to his unit although he was never told anything further about the experiment.

Ten years earlier, military scientists had received permission to use GI "volunteers" to study the human body's response to various chemical weapons then in its arsenal. Although they had been told to obtain the "informed consent" of human subjects, in practice, this was not done. Following the Nuremberg trial after WWII which convicted German scientists of war crimes for human experiments, a strict Nuremberg Code was developed which required that human test subjects be informed of all known risks before they were asked to provide their consent. Although the U.S. military formally adopted these rules in the Wilson Memorandum in 1953, somehow they were not enforced during the 1958-75 period, when thousands of GIs participated in tests of various chemical agents.

In the early 1970's, news about LSD testing on unsuspecting GI's and civilians shocked the nation. Hearings were conducted before a Senate committee and subsequently a blue-ribbon commission chaired by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller probed the issue. Limited reforms were implemented but their scope didn't extend beyond the use of mind-altering drugs.

Finally, in the early 1980s, the Army was forced to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to investigate the long-term health effects of various chemical agents on thousands of GI test subjects. The NAS study relied mostly on data obtained from a self -administered medical questionnaire, which was sent to about 5,000 veterans. Another 1,400 test subjects couldn't be located while at least 325 more veterans were deceased, having filed burial benefits claims with the VA.

Citizen Soldier recently learned during an interview with one of the study's scientific advisers that there had been debate over whether the questionnaire would provide adequate information about the test subjects' health. When our informant urged that the study rely on clinical case control studies rather than questionnaires, the military refused, claiming that it would be too expensive.

Despite the limitations of the questionnaire approach, the study still concluded that admissions to VA and Army hospitals for "malignant neoplasm" were "statistically significant." Despite this disturbing finding, there is no evidence that the Army conducted any further research or even sought to locate those 1,400 missing veterans who could not be found by routine mailings.

Ken Lamb reports that he never received any word of the NAS study, even though he has had only two addresses (one in Queens, N.Y. and one on Long Island) in his life. Also, he was a sanitation worker for the City of New York for over twenty years.

In 1993, the GAO, a research agency for Congress, reviewing the recent history of these test subjects concluded, "because of [in] complete information on those who participate and the precise adverse health effects of their participation, it has [been] difficult for former test participants to pursue claims." They found that 97 out of 145 vets who recently sought assistance could not prove that their health problems were caused by participation in the experiments.

In Congressional testimony the following year, the GAO Asst. Comptroller General stated. "The VA continues to have difficulty assessing former test-subjects. We were told in September 1994, that VA claims adjucators misdirect over 100 requests for test information each month because they don't know which agency should receive them."

Citizen Soldier has also learned of plans at the NAS to conduct another study of these test subjects. We plan to monitor its progress and will enlist independent scientists in an effort to ensure the most comprehensive study possible.

Last year, the VA rejected Ken Lamb's claim for service-connected disability, stating that he had not proven a link between the experiment and his cancers. Currently his lawyers are preparing an appeal, but it could be several years before the Lamb family receives any help.

"I'm dying," Ken somberly declared at a New York press conference earlier this year. "There's no question about that. I just want my family taken care of. Personally, I don't want anything from them."