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U.S. Testing: Cold War-Era Tests Used Live Agents in United States, Reports Say The U.S. Defense Department used live chemical and biological weapons agents during Cold War-era tests in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, say documents declassified for release to the U.S. Congress today (see GSN, Feb. 28). The purpose of the tests, along with a series of exercises on naval vessels and sailors, was to examine how combat conditions would affect agents, according to the Washington Post. Between 1962 and 1971, officials tested chemical agents such as sarin and VX in Alaska, Hawaii and Maryland, according to the documents. Testers also used a mild biological agent during exercises in Florida, the documents say. Although some mild agents were released into the atmosphere, none of the agents used during the tests were released into the general population, Pentagon officials said. The Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department are trying to identify the 5,500 military personnel involved in the exercises because officials do not know whether the subjects knew the tests’ nature and potential impacts, the Post reported. The personnel received whatever protection was available at the time, but that equipment was unsophisticated compared to what is available today, said William Winkenwerder, assistant defense secretary for health affairs. “We are taking this action now because we do care about veterans and we do care about service members and their health and any potential ill health effects that might have resulted from their service to their country,” Winkenwerder said. The United States should provide assistance to any veteran who was harmed by the tests, especially in light of plans for military action against Iraq to disarm it of weapons of mass destruction, said House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher Smith (R-N.J.). “At a time when our nation may be called upon to fight a war to protect Americans from chemical and biological terrorism, it is tragic to learn that four decades earlier, some of America’s soldiers and sailors were unwitting participants in tests using live chemical and biological toxins,” Smith said (Thom Shanker, New York Times, Oct. 9).
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