Secret open-air tests of chemical and biological agents in the 1960s in Central Florida.

[madfloridian]

This area was only one of many. I happened upon this article tonight in my files. I remember printing it off and sharing it with our doctors who were so surprised they shared it with other doctors.

http://search.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2002210100373

WASHINGTON -- The United States secretly tested chemical and biological weapons on American soil during the 1960s, including experiments at the Avon Park U.S. Air Force Range, newly declassified Pentagon reports show.

The tests included releasing deadly nerve agents in Alaska and spraying bacteria over Hawaii, according to the documents obtained Tuesday.

The United States also tested nerve agents in Canada and Britain in conjunction with those two countries, and biological and chemical weapons in at least two other states, Maryland and Florida.

Specifics on tests at Avon Park have not been released yet, but an aide in the office of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat pushing for full disclosure of the experiments, said that it could have involved the same type of low-level biological tests on wheat as previously reported at a Yeehaw Junction site and one near the current Florida Atlantic University site in Boca Raton.

Spraying of these agents was done on ships at sea as well, with or without the knowledge of the subjects involved. Also in Utah.

The Pentagon released records earlier this year showing that chemical and biological agents had been sprayed on ships at sea. The military reimbursed ranchers and agreed to stop open-air nerve-agent testing at its main chemical weapons center in the Utah desert after about 6,400 sheep died when nerve gas drifted away from the test range.

There are more specifics at the link.

[Poll_Blind]

1. This is explains so many crazy/horrifying news stories from Florida. n/t

PB

[soothsayer]

2. I figure they're still doing tests on cruise ships. Nice isolated

population to track vectors of how diseases spread, so you know the best way to use bio weapons on the enemy (du jour). Definitely still doing secret tests on us. 40 years from now I guess we'll learn what, where.

[madfloridian]

5. I think you are probably right. It is unbelievable they would do it..

It is not something a country should do against its citizens.

[madfloridian]

3. And from Missouri in 2000

http://archive.salon.com:80/health/feature/2000/11/02/germ_warfare/print.html

"Dead or alive?

A military biowarfare training program alarms nearby residents -- especially when the Army can't keep its story straight.


- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Terry J. Allen

Nov. 02, 2000 | "The release of bacteria into the air as part of a biological weapons training program at a military base in Missouri has sparked alarm in the surrounding area -- and the Army's belated acknowledgement that it was using a live rather than a dead variant of the bacteria has exacerbated the situation.

The bacteria, bacillus subtilis, is being used to simulate an attack with the deadly disease anthrax. B. subtilis is not generally considered harmful, but some evidence suggests that it can cause infections and flu-like symptoms for individuals with compromised immune systems. When local residents and officials learned recently about the spraying, officials at Fort Leonard Wood told the public and members of the media that the bacteria being used had been killed through a process called irradiation.

When Salon requested documentation last week to verify the irradiation claim, base spokesman Derik Crotts said he would get the records. Two days later, another official, Col. Alan Hardy, commander of the 3rd Chemical Brigade, called back and acknowledged that the bacteria was, in fact, live."

[madfloridian]

4. Navy veterans claim U.S. covered up biological and chemical tests

http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/details.cfm?id=244611&

"The Kansas City Star

WASHINGTON - A veterans advocacy group and 21 former servicemen who unknowingly were exposed to dangerous chemical and biological toxins during secret Cold War tests filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday claiming a government cover-up.

The Navy veterans, along with the Vietnam Veterans of America, named as a defendant former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. They allege McNamara "conceived a program of biological and chemical warfare experiments" in the 1960s.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also named as defendants a former undersecretary of the Army and several current officials of the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. "If Congress can hold people like Ken Lay accountable for his actions, American citizens, particularly veterans, should be able to hold government officials accountable for theirs," said Douglas Rosinski, an attorney for the servicemen. Lay is the former chairman of Enron Corp.

Spokesmen for the VA and Defense Department declined to comment about the lawsuit. McNamara could not be reached for comment. But in a brief interview in August about the secret tests, he said, "I have absolutely zero recollection of them."