Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

sent on September 9th 2006 to LC Berg of Berg Associates  a retired CIA employee

Mr. Johnson, I have seen your diaries on Kos, and read your personal history, maybe you could give this old soldier some guidance. I find myself caught in a mess from a decision I made when I was 18, I thought I was serving my nation, and it turns out, I was along with 7119 other soldiers being abused in the governments chemical weapons and drug experiments that were headed by DR Sidney Gottlieb of the CIA, Special Operations  Division.

I realize this is ancient history now, but it still has left some lingering residual effects for myself and most of the other veterans used in this program of the 7120 men used, a IOM study in March 2003 shows that 40% of the men are dead already 2098 men, of the 4022 survivors found, 54% of them or another 2200 men are disabled, for a combined death and disability rate of 74.43%. The DOD and the VA refuse to acknowledge our claims for veterans benefits, I have written the VA and DOD, all I and the other veterans get are lies and deception.

Here is a recent letter to the Senate VA Committee the head man seems to think my questions are valid, after 31 years how do I get someone to actually do something about them?  Any guidance or people I could contact to help us?

Mr. Bailey:

Letter sent to the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee:

Thanks for sending this.  You have raised very serious and, I believe, very legitimate concerns. I have forwarded your email to the health policy staff on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, as well as to an official within the VA, and have asked them to review it.  

My hope is that others reading your email will take the issues you raised seriously and work to provide satisfactory answers.  

Sincerely,

Jeff Schrade, Communications Director

U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Direct: 202-224-9093

http://veterans.senate.gov

--------------------------- --------------------------- --------------------------

From: TESTVET@aol.com [mailto:TESTVET@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 4:42 PM
To: Schrade, Jeff (Veterans Affairs); John.Conyers@
Subject: the federal governments failure to honestly assess the health problems

of the veterans used at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland and Fort Detrick, Maryland from 1952 thru 1975, in the chemical weapons and drug experiments primarily at Edgewood and the biological weapons experiments at Fort Detrick.

I realize I am beginning to sound like a broken record, yet after 31 years, nothing is being done to help these veterans or their widows, why?

About two weeks ago the Veterans Affairs Department released these two documents, filled with incorrect information why? http://www1.va.gov/vhapubli cations/ViewPublication.asp ?pub_ID=1464  dated 14 August 2006  and  http://www1.va.gov/EnvironA gents/docs/Fact_Sheet_Edgew ood-aberdeen_Chemical_Agent _Experiments_Information_Pa per.pdf Unknown release date.

No one has yet addressed the fact that the IOM has the names and addresses of the 7120 veterans used at Edgewood Arsenal, despite DOD's allegations they will be unable to find these veterans before 2009, Rick Erdtman 202-334-1925 of the IOM has stated that as soon as DOD authorizes him to release the data to the VA, he will do so, that he has been in possession of this data since FY2000, after the private contractor Ronca, Schullman etc. had contacted the veterans of Edgewood for the health study that the March 2003 IOM report  http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3795 /4913/5842.aspx . This report showed that 2098 of the veterans could not be found using IRS, VA and SS files, one can only assume they are deceased, men aged 45-65 years of age are either paying SS taxes, drawing SS or SSD checks or paying income taxes, or being seem at VA hospitals, they don't just disappear. That is 40% of the entire group of veterans used in the experiments.

The study also states in the fine print that of the 4022 surviving veterans that 54% of them are disabled, yet the study does not explain what caused these disabilities, again why?

The study seemed to have a very narrow focus, just Sarin exposures, yet mustard agents were released at Kamisayah Iraq in March 1991 also, why weren't these health effects studied?  Why hasn't the government done more to study the long term health effects of the veterans used in the tests at Edgewood especially in lieu of the fact that this EPA report shows about 100 toxic chemicals found in the drinking water, ground water and soil of Edgewood Arsenal in 1978 and the EPA ordered the drinking water wells capped for the base and town of Edgewood, Maryland as the aquifer where they drew their water was also contaminated? http://cfpub1.epa.gov/super cpad/cursites/ccontinfo.cfm ?id=0300421  the first four chemicals on the list show long term cardiac effects and I was so disgusted I quit looking at the CDC site http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/to xprofiles/tp39-c2.pdf   atsdr at CDC will show all the health effects of these toxic chemicals yet, DOD nor the Army ever contacted the veterans assigned to Edgewood Arsenal to warn them of the hazards of their exposures thru environmental causes, since this list became known to them in 1978, why?

When claims are made thru the Veterans Affairs claim process, they refuse to address the issue of the Edgewood experiments, when forced to they have lied to me, about me, denied I was ever there, then claimed I was taken ill and sent home before the tests ever began, yet I have the documents to prove I was there from 25 June 1974 thru 22 August 1974 when I was released from the test program. The government then claimed I was only used in a radio listening test, then this picture of me was found after that, and this does not look like a radio, does it?

In spite of the governments continued lack of honesty about the test program, the failure to properly handle the claims made thru the VA, myself and the other "test veterans" I am in contact with trust that one day our government will "find" us as they claim they are trying to do. I have the names and e mail addresses of 11 other veterans used at Edgewood, we all have the same problems, we are all disabled and the VA will not address our medical issues in the claims process.

We have tried to use, elected officials, the VA itself, the Army, everyone that we can think of, yet no one will deal openly and honestly with us about this problem, why?

We 7120 men were promised the "Soldier's Medal" for risking our health to tests the "gas masks and battlefield uniforms" of the future. The Army did not keep their promise of the medals, they awarded medals to DR Van Sim and DR Siddell, from DOD for using us in these experiments, they even named a learning center building in honor of DR Siddell at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in 2002 for his work, using us as human test subjects.

Yet, the soldiers who laid it on the line, were deprived even as much as an Army Commendation Medal, let alone the promised Soldier's Medal, now to be deprived of our veterans benefits, because of the failure of our VA system and DOD to properly handle this, it is becoming to hard to trust, that the government will ever help us,  let alone ever make it   right, the last 32 years of ignoring us and or our widows,has made these veterans and their families distrust the government they served.

Michael G Bailey

http://www.dailykos.com/sto ry/2006/8/6/102919/7467

4300 Men killed or disabled! No questions asked.
by testvet6778 [Subscribe] [Edit Diary]
Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 09:29:19 AM EST
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 F**k 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.

testvet6778's diary :: ::

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 British also experimented on enlisted men and just last week, they released a report on Porton Down.  Symptoms, ill-health and quality of life in a support group of Porton Down veterans

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
Mood disorders
Anxiety disorders (including post-traumatic stress disorder)
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.  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.

April 28, 2005

Honorable R. James Nicholson
Secretary
Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20420

Dear 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 STRICKLAND

Ranking Democratic Member                                
                                                                             Subcommittee on Oversight and investigations

Enclosures as stated