Project SHAD (Shipboard Hazard And Defense) was a series of tests run against U.S. Navy ships to determine their susceptibility to Biological and Chemical warfare agents. For the most part, the crews of the ships involved were not given any information about what was happening - and more to the point, what the potential hazards were. In short, the U.S. military not only experimented on it's own people, but did so without their informed consent.
These tests were a part of a larger program, called Project 112, that began as early as 1956, and continued well into the 60's.
Initially, the Department of Defense denied that Project 112 and Project SHAD ever happened; but were caught in their lies by a newspaper report that ultimately led to a 60 Minutes broadcast. Since that time, the DoD has continued to drag it's feet in making information available to the human guinea pigs it used during these tests.
The Veteran's Administration was brought into the picture when a number of these "test subjects" applied for treatment for the myriad of health problems they began to experience years later.
A person might think that the military would take care not to harm these poor
unfortunates, but such isn't the case: there were a number of agents used,
including Bacillus globigii (BG), Coxiella burnetii, Pasteurella
tularensis, Zinc Cadmium Sulfide, Beta-propriolactone,
Sarin
(yes, the nerve agent), VX
(a very potent nerve gas), Escherichia
Coli (E. Coli), Serratia
Marcescens (SM), Sodium
Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide, Peracetic acid,
At the time, most of these chemical and biological
agents were believed to be harmless - but that doesn't explain the use of Sarin,
VX, and other KNOWN (even then) hazardous materials. In short, decades before Saddam Hussein threatened the world with
chemical and biological warfare, our own military was actually
using it - on it's own people. Since Project 112 and Project SHAD became public knowledge, there have been a
number of investigations, and a LIMITED amount of information has been released.
Please click on the links to the left to visit some other sites that have
additional information.
