Project SHAD Vets testify today on 1960s chemical tests

Action from Congress would be a relief to Alderson, who lives modestly in Ferndale, Calif. 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.

Vets testify today on 1960s chemical tests

By Erica Werner - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 12, 2008 8:46:02 EDT

WASHINGTON — 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 set 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.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_chemicaltests_061208/