Project 112
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Project 112 was a biological and
chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...
weapon experimentation project conducted by the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
from 1962 to 1973. The project started under
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
's administration, and was authorized by his Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the Lis ...
, as part of a total review of the US military. The name "Project 112" refers to this project's number in the 150 project review process authorized by McNamara. Funding and staff were contributed by every branch of the U.S. armed services and intelligence agencies—a euphemism for the Office of Technical Services of the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
's
Directorate of Science & Technology The Directorate of Science & Technology (DS&T) is the branch of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) tasked with collecting and analyzing information through technological means and develop technical systems in order to advance the ...
. Canada and the United Kingdom also participated in some Project 112 activities. Project 112 primarily concerned the use of aerosols to disseminate biological and chemical agents that could produce "controlled temporary incapacitation" (CTI). The test program would be conducted on a large scale at "extracontinental test sites" in the Central and South Pacific and Alaska in conjunction with Britain, Canada and Australia. At least 50 trials were conducted; of these at least 18 tests involved simulants of biological agents (such as BG), and at least 14 involved chemical agents including sarin and VX, but also
tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
and other simulants. Test sites included
Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...
(UK), Ralston (Canada) and at least 13 US warships; the shipborne trials were collectively known as Shipboard Hazard and Defense— SHAD. The project was coordinated from
Deseret Test Center The Deseret Test Center was a U.S. Army operated command in charge for testing chemical and biological weapons during the 1960s. The Deseret was headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, a former U.S. Army base. History Progress toward standardizin ...
, Utah. , publicly available information on Project 112 remains incomplete.


Top-level directives

In January 1961, McNamara sent a directive about chemical and biological weapons to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urging them to: "consider all possible applications, including use as an alternative to nuclear weapons. Prepare a plan for the development of an adequate biological and chemical deterrent capability, to include cost estimates, and appraisal of domestic and international political consequences." The Joint Chiefs established a Joint Task Force that recommended a five-year plan to be conducted in three phases. On April 17, 1963, President Kennedy signed
National Security Action Memorandum 235 NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 235 was an NSAM signed by President Kennedy at Washington D.C. on April 17, 1963 which placed requirements on Federal agencies and required Presidential approval prior to conducting ''Large-Scale Scientific o ...
(NSAM 235) which approved: Project 112 was a highly classified military testing program which was aimed at both offensive and defensive human, animal, and plant reaction to biological and chemical warfare in various combinations of climate and terrain. The U.S. Army Chemical Corps sponsored the United States portion of an agreement between the U.S., Britain, Canada, and Australia to negotiate, host, conduct, or participate in mutual interest research and development activity and field testing.


Command

The command structure for the
Deseret Test Center The Deseret Test Center was a U.S. Army operated command in charge for testing chemical and biological weapons during the 1960s. The Deseret was headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, a former U.S. Army base. History Progress toward standardizin ...
, which was organized to oversee Project 112, somewhat bypassed standard Defense Department channels and reported directly to the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
and
US Cabinet The Cabinet of the United States is a body consisting of the vice president of the United States and the heads of the executive branch's departments in the federal government of the United States. It is the principal official advisory body to th ...
consisting of Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, and to a much smaller extent, the Secretary of Agriculture . Experiments were planned and conducted by the Deseret Test Center and
Deseret Chemical Depot The Deseret Chemical Depot () was a U.S. Army chemical weapon storage area located in Utah, 60 miles (100 km) southwest of Salt Lake City. It is related to the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. History The area was used to store c ...
at
Fort Douglas, Utah Camp Douglas was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. In ...
. The tests were designed to test the effects of
biological weapons A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrorism ...
and
chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
on personnel, plants, animals, insects, toxins, vehicles, ships and equipment. Project 112 and
Project SHAD Project SHAD, an acronym for Shipboard Hazard and Defense, was part of a larger effort called Project 112, which was conducted during the 1960s. Project SHAD encompassed tests designed to identify U.S. warships' vulnerabilities to attacks with che ...
experiments involved unknowing test subjects who did not give informed consent, and took place on land and at sea in various climates and terrains. Experiments involved humans, plants, animals, insects, aircraft, ships, submarines and amphibious vehicles.


Biological weapons tests

There was a large variety of goals for the proposed tests, for example: "selected protective devices in preventing penetration of a naval ship by a biological aerosol," the impact of "meteorological conditions on weapon system performance over the open sea," the penetrability of jungle vegetation by biological agents, "the penetration of an arctic inversion by a biological aerosol cloud," "the feasibility of an offshore release of
Aedes aegypti ''Aedes aegypti'', the yellow fever mosquito, is a mosquito that can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, Mayaro and yellow fever viruses, and other disease agents. The mosquito can be recognized by black and white markings on its legs ...
mosquito as a vector for infectious diseases," "the feasibility of a biological attack against an island complex," and the study of the decay rates of biowarfare agents under various conditions. Project 112 tests used the following agents and simulants:
Francisella tularensis ''Francisella tularensis'' is a pathogenic species of Gram-negative coccobacillus, an aerobic bacterium. It is nonspore-forming, nonmotile, and the causative agent of tularemia, the pneumonic form of which is often lethal without treatment. It is ...
,
Serratia marcescens ''Serratia marcescens'' () is a species of rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria in the family Yersiniaceae. It is a facultative anaerobe and an opportunistic pathogen in humans. It was discovered in 1819 by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy.Serra ...
,
Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...
,
Bacillus globii ''Bacillus'' (Latin "stick") is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-shaped bacteria; and the plural ''Bacilli ...
, staphylococcal enterotoxin Type B,
Puccinia graminis Stem rust, also known as cereal rust, black rust, red rust or red dust, is caused by the fungus ''Puccinia graminis'', which causes significant disease in cereal crops. Crop species that are affected by the disease include bread wheat, durum whe ...
var. tritici (stem rust of wheat). Agents and simulants were usually dispensed as
aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or Human impact on the environment, anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog o ...
s using spraying devices or bomblets. In May 1965, vulnerability tests in the U.S. using the anthrax simulant ''Bacillus globigii'' were performed in the Washington D.C. area by
SOD Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...
covert agents. One test was conducted at the Greyhound bus terminal and the other at the north terminal of the
National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National Airport, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across ...
. In these tests the bacteria were released from spray generators hidden in specially built briefcases. SOD also conducted a series of tests in the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
system between 7 and 10 June 1966 by dropping light bulbs filled with ''
Bacillus subtilis ''Bacillus subtilis'', known also as the hay bacillus or grass bacillus, is a Gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium, found in soil and the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants, humans and marine sponges. As a member of the genus ''Bacillus ...
var. niger''. In the latter tests, results indicated that a city-level epidemic would have occurred. Local police and transit authorities were not informed of these tests.


SHAD – Shipboard Hazard and Defense

Project SHAD, an acronym for Shipboard Hazard and Defense (or sometimes Decontamination), was part of the larger program called Project 112, which was conducted during the 1960s. Project SHAD encompassed tests designed to identify U.S. warships' vulnerabilities to attacks with chemical or biological warfare agents and to develop procedures to respond to such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability. The Department of Defense (DoD) states that Project 112 was initiated out of concern for the ability of the United States to protect and defend against potential CB threats. Project 112 consisted of both land-based and sea-based tests. The sea-based tests, called Project SHAD were primarily launched from other ships such as the
USS Granville S. Hall (YAG-40) ''Granville S. Hall'' was a Liberty ship named after Granville S. Hall. She was built at the J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida, and launched in 1944, to serve as a civilian cargo ship. In 1953 she was acquired by the United States Nav ...
and
USS George Eastman (YAG-39) USS ''George Eastman'' (YAG-39), a "Liberty-type" cargo ship, was laid down under Maritime Commission contract on 24 March 1943 by Permanente Metals Corp., Yard 2, Richmond, California; launched on 20 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Ann Troutman; a ...
, Army tugboats, submarines, or fighter aircraft and was designed to identify U.S. warships' vulnerabilities to attacks with chemical or biological warfare agents and to develop decontamination and other methods to counter such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability. The classified information related to SHAD was not completely cataloged or located in one facility. Furthermore, The Deseret Test Center was closed in the 1970s and the search for 40-year-old documents and records kept by different military services in different locations was a challenge to researchers. A fact sheet was developed for each test that was conducted and when a test cancellation was not documented, a cancellation analysis was developed outlining the logic used to presume that the test had been cancelled.


Declassification

The existence of Project 112 (along with the related Project SHAD) was categorically denied by the military until May 2000, when a ''CBS Evening News'' investigative report produced dramatic revelations about the tests. This report caused the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
and the
Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
to launch an extensive investigation of the experiments, and reveal to the affected personnel their exposure to toxins. Revelations concerning Project SHAD were first exposed by independent producer and investigative journalist Eric Longabardi. Longabardi's 6-year investigation into the still secret program began in early 1994. It ultimately resulted in a series of investigative reports produced by him, which were broadcast on the ''CBS Evening News'' in May 2000. After the broadcast of these exclusive reports, the Pentagon and Veteran's Administration opened their own ongoing investigations into the long classified program. In 2002, Congressional hearings on Project SHAD, in both the Senate and House, further shed media attention on the program. In 2002, a class action federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of the US sailors exposed in the testing. Additional actions, including a multi-year medical study, were conducted by
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
/Institute of Medicine to assess the potential medical harm caused to the thousands of unwitting US Navy sailors, civilians, and others who were exposed in the secret testing. The results of that study were finally released in May 2007. Because most of the participants that were involved with Project 112 and SHAD were unaware of any tests being done, no effort was made to ensure the
informed consent Informed consent is a principle in medical ethics and medical law, that a patient must have sufficient information and understanding before making decisions about their medical care. Pertinent information may include risks and benefits of treatme ...
of the military personnel. The US Department of Defense (DoD) conducted testing of agents in other countries that were considered too unethical to perform within the continental United States. Until 1998, the Department of Defense stated officially that Project SHAD did not exist. Because the DoD refused to acknowledge the program, surviving test subjects have been unable to obtain disability payments for health issues related to the project. US Representative Mike Thompson said of the program and the DoD's effort to conceal it, "They told me – they said, but don't worry about it, we only used simulants. And my first thought was, well, you've lied to these guys for 40 years, you've lied to me for a couple of years. It would be a real leap of faith for me to believe that now you're telling me the truth." The Department of Veterans Affairs commenced a three-year study comparing known SHAD-affected veterans to veterans of similar ages who were not involved in any way with SHAD or Project 112. The study cost approximately 3 million US Dollars, and results are being compiled for future release. DoD has committed to providing the VA with the relevant information it needs to settle benefits claims as quickly and efficiently as possible and to evaluate and treat veterans who were involved in those tests. This required analyzing historical documents recording the planning and execution of Project 112/SHAD tests. The released historical information about Project 112 from DoD consists of summary fact sheets rather than original documents or maintained federal information. As of 2003, 28 fact sheets have been released, focusing on the
Deseret Test Center The Deseret Test Center was a U.S. Army operated command in charge for testing chemical and biological weapons during the 1960s. The Deseret was headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, a former U.S. Army base. History Progress toward standardizin ...
in
Dugway, Utah Dugway is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Tooele County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,016, at the 2000 census, a modest increase over the 1990 figure of 1,761. The town is located inside the United States Army's larg ...
, which was built entirely for Project 112/SHAD and was closed after the project was finished in 1973. Original records are missing or incomplete. For example, a 91-meter aerosol test tower was sprayed by an F-4E with "aerosols" on Ursula Island in the Philippines and appears in released original Project SHAD documentation but without a fact sheet or further explanation or disclosure as to the nature of the test that was conducted or even what the test was called.


Criticisms after disclosure of CBW testing


(1945–1946) Transfer of Japanese Technical Information

Author
Sheldon H. Harris Sheldon Howard Harris (August 22, 1928 – August 31, 2002) was a historian and Professor Emeritus of History at California State University, Northridge. Biography Harris was born in Brooklyn. A professor of History at California State Universit ...
researched the history of Japanese Biological warfare and the American cover-up extensively. Harris and other scholars found that U.S. intelligence authorities had seized the Japanese researchers' archive after the technical information was provided by Japan. The information was transferred in an arrangement that exchanged keeping the information a secret and not pursuing war crimes charges. The arrangement with the United States concerning Japanese WMD research provided extensive Japanese technical information in exchange for not pursuing certain charges and also allowed Japan's government to deny knowledge of the use of these weapons by Japan's military in China during World War II. German scientists in Europe also skipped war crimes charges and went to work as U.S. employed intelligence agents and technical experts in an arrangement known as
Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World Wa ...
. The U.S. would not cooperate when the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
attempted to pursue war crimes charges against the Japanese. General
Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...
denied the U.S. Military had any captured records on Japan's military biological program. "The U.S. denial was absolutely misleading but technically correct as the Japanese records on biological warfare were then in the custody of U.S intelligence agencies rather than in possession of the military". A formerly top secret report by the
U.S. War Department The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...
at the close of World War II, clearly stipulates that the United States exchanged Japan's military technical information on BW experimentation against humans, plants, and animals in exchange for war crimes immunity. The War department notes that, "The voluntary imparting of this BW information may serve as a forerunner for obtaining much additional information in other fields of research."U.S. War Department, War Crimes Office Report (undated), retrieved: January 17, 2014
Armed with Nazi and Imperial Japanese biowarfare know-how, the United States government and its intelligence agencies began conducting widespread field testing of potential CBW capabilities on American cities, crops, and livestock. It is known that Japanese scientists were working at the direction of the Japan's military and intelligence agencies on advanced research projects of the United States including America's covert biomedical and biowarfare programs from the end of World War II through at least the 1960s.


Congressional action and GAO investigation

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) in September 1994 found that between 1940 and 1974, DOD and other national security agencies studied "hundreds, perhaps thousands" of weapons tests and experiments involving large area coverage of hazardous substances. The report states: Innocent civilians in cities, on subways and at airports were sprayed with disease carrying mosquitoes, "aerosols," containing bacteria, viruses, or exposed to a variety of dangerous chemical, biological and radiological agents as well as stimulant agents that were later found to be more dangerous than first thought. Precise information on the number of tests, experiments, and participants is not available and the exact number of veterans exposed will probably never be known. On December 2, 2002, The President signed Public Law 107–314 or the ''Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2003'' which included Section 709 entitled ''Disclosure of Information on Project 112 to Department of Veterans Affairs.'' Section 709 required disclosure of information concerning Project 112 to
United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...
(DVA) and the
General Accounting Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal gover ...
(GAO). Public Law 107–314 required the identification and release of not only Project 112 information to VA but also that of any other projects or tests where a service member might have been exposed to a CBW agent and directed The Secretary of Defense to work with veterans and veterans service organizations to identify the other projects or tests conducted by the Department of Defense that may have exposed members of the Armed Forces to chemical or biological agents. However, the issues surrounding the test program were not resolved by the passage of the law and "the Pentagon was accused of continuing to withhold documents on Cold War chemical and biological weapons tests that used unsuspecting veterans as "human samplers" after reporting to Congress it had released all medically relevant information." A 2004 GAO report revealed that of the participants who were identified from Project 112, 94 percent were from ship-based tests of Project SHAD that comprised only about one-third of the total number of tests conducted. DoD informed VA that Project 112/SHAD and Mustard Gas programs have been officially closed as of June 2008 while Edgewood Arsenal testing remains open as DoD continues to identify Veterans who were "test participants" in the program. DoD's current effort to identify Cold War exposures began in 2004 and is endeavoring to identify all non-Project 112/SHAD veterans exposed to chemical and biological substances due to testing and accidents from World War II through 1975. "America has a sad legacy of weapons testing in the Pacific...people were removed from their homes and their islands used as targets." While this statement during congressional testimony during the Department of Defense's inquiry into Project 112 was referring a completely different and separate testing program, there are common concerns about potential adverse health impacts and the timely release of information. Congress was unsatisfied with the DOD's unwillingness to disclose information relating to the scope of America's chemical and biological warfare past and provide the information necessary to assess and deal with the risks to public safety and U.S. service members' health that CBW testing may have posed or continue to pose. A
Government Accounting Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal gover ...
May 2004 report, ''Chemical and Biological Defense: DOD Needs to Continue to Collect and Provide Information on Tests and Potentially Exposed Personnel'' states:


Legal developments

On appeal in Vietnam Veterans of America v. Central Intelligence Agency, a panel majority held in July 2015 that Army Regulation 70-25 (AR 70-25) created an independent duty to provide ongoing medical care to veterans who many years ago participated in U.S. chemical and biological testing programs. Prior to the finding that the Army is required to provide medical care long after a veteran last participated in a testing program was a 2012 finding that the Army has an ongoing duty to seek out and provide "notice" to former test participants of any new information that could potentially affect their health. The case was initially brought forward by concerned veterans who participated in the
Edgewood Arsenal human experiments From 1948 to 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted classified human subject research at the Edgewood Arsenal facility in Maryland. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to tes ...
.


Controversy over inclusion of Okinawa as Extracontinental Site 2

Corroborating suspicions of Project 112 activities on Okinawa include "An Organizational History of the 267th Chemical company", which was made available by the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center to
Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota Yellow Medicine County is a county in the State of Minnesota. Its eastern border is formed by the Minnesota River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,528. Its county seat is Granite Falls. The Upper Sioux Indian Reservation, related ...
, Veteran's Service Officer Michelle Gatz in 2012. According to the document, the 267th Chemical Company was activated on Okinawa on December 1, 1962 as the 267th Chemical Platoon (SVC) was billeted at Chibana Depot. During this deployment, "Unit personnel were actively engaged in preparing RED HAT area, site 2 for the receipt and storage of first increment items, hipment"YBA", DOD Project 112." The company received further shipments, code named YBB and YBF, which according to declassified documents also included sarin, VX, and mustard gas.Mitchell, Jon,
'Were we marines used as guinea pigs on Okinawa?'
" ''
Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'', 4 December 2012, p. 14
The late author
Sheldon H. Harris Sheldon Howard Harris (August 22, 1928 – August 31, 2002) was a historian and Professor Emeritus of History at California State University, Northridge. Biography Harris was born in Brooklyn. A professor of History at California State Universit ...
in his book "Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932–1945, and the American cover up" wrote about Project 112: The U.S. government has previously disclosed information on chemical and biological warfare tests it held at sea and on land yet new-found documents show that the U.S. Army tested biological weapons in Okinawa in the early 1960s, when the prefecture was still under U.S. rule. During these tests, conducted at least a dozen times between 1961 and 1962,
rice blast ''Magnaporthe grisea'', also known as rice blast fungus, rice rotten neck, rice seedling blight, blast of rice, oval leaf spot of graminea, pitting disease, ryegrass blast, Johnson spot, neck blast, wheat blast, and Imochi (Japanese:稲熱) is a ...
fungus was released by the Army using "a midget duster to release inoculum alongside fields in Okinawa and Taiwan," in order to measure effective dosages requirements at different distances and the negative effects on crop production.Thomas H. Barksdale; Marian W. Jones (June 1965). Technical Report 60: Rice Blast Epiphypology (U) (Report). U.S. Army. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
/ref> Rice blast or
Pyricularia oryzae ''Pyricularia'' is a genus of fungi which was named by Saccardo in 1880.Saccardo, P.A. Michelia 2(no. 6): 20. 1880 The polyphyletic nature of ''Pyricularia'' has been resolved and species of ''Pyricularia s. str.'' were shown to belong to a mon ...
produces a
mycotoxin A mycotoxin (from the Greek μύκης , "fungus" and τοξίνη , "toxin") is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of kingdom Fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' ...
called
Tenuazonic acid Tenuazonic acid is a mycotoxin produced by ''Alternaria'' species. It is a powerful eukaryotic protein synthesis inhibitor. It is a tetrameric acid that is ubiquitous in biological environments and prevents the release of newly synthesized prote ...
which has been implicated in human and animal disease.


Official briefings and reports

A number of studies, reports and briefings have been done on chemical and biological warfare exposures. A list of the major documents is provided below.


Government Accountability Office reports

* Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report: GAO-04-410, ''DOD Needs to Continue to Collect and Provide Information on Tests and on Potentially Exposed Personnel'', May 2004 * Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report: GAO-08-366, ''DOD and VA Need to Improve Efforts to Identify and Notify Individuals Potentially Exposed during Chemical and Biological Tests'', February 2008


Secrecy Policies

* Release from Secrecy Oaths Under Chem-Bio Research Programs, January 11, 2011


Institute of Medicine reports

* Institute of Medicine Study: ''SHAD II'', study in progress, 2012 * Institute of Medicine Study: ''Long-Term Health Effects of Participation in Project SHAD'', 2007 * Supplement to Institute of Medicine Study: Long-Term Health Effects of Participation in Project SHAD, "Health Effects of Perceived Exposure to Biochemical Warfare Agents, 2004" * Three-Part National Research Council Series Reports on Possible Long-Term Health Effects of Short-Term Exposure to Chemical Agents (1982-1985)


Congressional testimony

* Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Hearing: ''Military Exposures: The Continuing Challenges of Care and Compensation'', July 10, 2002 *House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Subcommittee on Health, Hearing: ''Military Operations Aspects of SHAD and Project 112'', October 9, 2002 *Senate Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Personnel, ''Prepared Statement of Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, on Shipboard Hazard and Defense'', October 10, 2002


DoD briefings

*Military Service Organizations/Veterans Service Organizations Briefing: Chemical/Biological Exposure Databases, September 17, 2009 *Military Service Organizations/Veterans Service Organizations Briefing: Chemical/Biological Exposure Databases, February 21, 2008 *Extracts from 2003 Report to Congress Disclosure of Information on Project 112 to the Department of Veterans Affairs as Directed by PL 107-314, August 1, 2003 – Executive Summary and Disclosure of Information


News releases

:The following is a list of Department of Defense-issued press releases for Project 112 and Project SHAD: * June 30, 2003 – SHAD – Project 112 – Deseret Test Center Investigation Draws To A Close The Department of Defense completed today its nearly three-year investigation of operational tests conducted in the 1960s. * December 31, 2002 – DoD corrects data on SHAD test "High Low" Since the Department of Defense began investigating the operational shipboard hazard and defense tests in September 2000, it has released fact sheets on 42 of the 46 shipboard and land-based tests. * October 31, 2002 – DoD Releases Five Project 112 SHAD Fact Sheets The Department of Defense today released five new detailed fact sheets on Cold War-era chemical and biological warfare tests conducted in support of Project 112. * October 9, 2002 – DoD Releases Deseret Test Center/Project 112/Project SHAD Fact Sheets The Department of Defense today released another 28 detailed fact sheets on 27 Cold War-era chemical and biological warfare tests identified as Project 112. * July 9, 2002 – DoD expands SHAD investigationThe Department of Defense announced today an expansion of the Shipboard Hazard and Defense investigation. A team of investigators will travel to Dugway Proving Ground in mid-August to review Deseret Test Center records. *May 23, 2002 – DoD releases Project SHAD fact sheets The Department of Defense today released detailed fact sheets on six Cold War-era chemical and biological warfare tests. *May 23, 2002 – DoD releases six new Project SHAD fact sheets The Department of Defense released detailed fact sheets on six Cold War-era chemical and biological warfare tests. *January 4, 2002 – DoD Releases Information on 1960 tests In the 1960s, the Department of Defense conducted a series of chemical and biological warfare vulnerability tests on naval ships known collectively as Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense. *January 4, 2002 – No Small Feat The ongoing investigation into the Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense, or SHAD, tests is a detective story worthy of Sherlock Holmes.


See also

*
CFB Suffield Canadian Forces Base Suffield (also CFB Suffield) is a Canadian Forces base, host to the largest military training area in Canada. It is located in southeastern Alberta, north-northwest of Suffield, northwest of the city of Medicine Hat and sou ...
and
Suffield Experimental Station The military research facility located north of Suffield, Alberta, operated under the name of the Suffield Experimental Station (SES) from 1950 to its renaming to the Defence Research Establishment Suffield in 1967. History Experimental Station ...
*
Dorset Biological Warfare Experiments The Dorset Biological Warfare Experiments were a series of experiments conducted between 1953 and 1975 to determine the extent to which a single ship or aircraft could dispense biological warfare agents over the United Kingdom. The tests between 197 ...
*
Edgewood Arsenal human experiments From 1948 to 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted classified human subject research at the Edgewood Arsenal facility in Maryland. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to tes ...
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Human experimentation in the United States Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, a ...
* Operation LAC (Large Area Coverage) * Operation Whitecoat *
Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...
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United States biological weapons program The United States biological weapons program officially began in spring 1943 on orders from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Research continued following World War II as the U.S. built up a large stockpile of biological agents and weapons. Over t ...
* H.R.1769


References


External links


Project SHAD
at the
United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...
, includes pocket guides and Q&A
Force Protection and Readiness information page for SHAD (Project 112)

GAO
{{Authority control Environmental controversies Environmental impact of war United States biological weapons program Chemical warfare Defoliants Herbicides Japan–United States relations Johnston Atoll Non-combat military operations involving the United States Bioethics
112 112 may refer to: *112 (number), the natural number following 111 and preceding 113 *112 (band), an American R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia **112 (album), ''112'' (album), album from the band of the same name *112 (emergency telephone number), t ...
Human subject research in the United States