U.S. biowarfare tests remind us of the danger of government 'protection'
WASHINGTON, DC -- For Americans terrified by the anthrax crisis, here's some surprising news: This isn't the first time we've been the victims of a biological hazard.
And here's even more surprising news: The last time, it was the U.S. government that was secretly blasting American cities with bacteria, experimenting with different microbe delivery systems, and killing unsuspecting people.
In fact, the U.S. government conducted a total of 239 open-air tests of biological agents between 1949 and 1969, exposing millions of Americans from Florida to California to potentially dangerous bacteria and cancer-causing materials.
At least one person died from the top-secret tests, and at least a dozen other Americans were infected, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Details about the experiments finally came to light in 1977, after news of the tests were leaked to the press. That year, in testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on health, the U.S. government admitted to:
* Blasting a bacterial fog over the entire 49-square-mile area of San Francisco from September 20-27, 1950. The bacteria, Serratia marcesens and Bacillus globiggi, was sprayed via giant hoses from U.S. Navy ships in San Francisco harbor.
While both bacteria were believed to be safe, 11 people checked into local hospitals in the weeks following the secret attacks, all with cases of pneumonia caused by Serratia marcesens. One person, a 75-year-old retired pipe fitter named Edward J. Nevin, died. Doctors were baffled by the unexplained outbreak.
* Releasing Bacillus globiggi bacteria in Washington, DC's National Airport and a Greyhound bus terminal in May 1956. At least 130 passengers -- who then traveled to 39 cities in seven states -- were exposed to the bacteria.
* Spreading Bacillus subtilis bacteria in the New York City subway in 1966. Military researchers dropped lightbulbs filled with bacteria onto subway tracks in midtown Manhattan, and then traced its spread throughout the subway system.
* Scattering zinc-cadmium-sulfide particles -- now recognized as a cancer-causing agent -- in the air over Minnesota and other Midwestern states. Researchers then tracked the fluorescent compounds as they spread more than 1,000 miles.
* Dispensing Serratia marcesens bacteria on Key West and Panama City, Florida, and releasing Bacillus globiggi along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
At the 1977 Senate hearings, government spokespeople said the tests were conducted because of concerns that the country might come under biological attack during the Cold War.
While the U.S. government released bacteria for very different reasons than the terrorists who are today mailing deadly anthrax spores, there is one important lesson to be learned from those two decades of secret bioterrorism tests, said Libertarian Party National Director Steve Dasbach.
"As U.S. politicians pledge to track down the terrorists responsible for this current deadly outbreak of anthrax, Americans need to remember that government protection can sometimes be dangerous," he said.
"In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the U.S. government's secret biological experiments infected and killed Americans in the name of protecting us from a biological attack. Last week, the U.S. House and Senate passed an anti-terrorism bill that attacks the U.S. Constitution in the name of protecting us from terrorist attacks.
"While the government may have a fundamental role to play in protecting this nation from attack, it also has a fundamental obligation to not protect us to death -- as it did when it secretly blasted San Francisco with bacteria in 1950. And the government has an equal obligation not to deprive us of fundamental civil liberties -- as it did when it publicly passed the new anti-terrorism bill last week."