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Army admits conductingbiological test in U.S.By DANIEL F. GILMOREWASHINGTON (UPI)-The Army said Wednesday it conducted germ warfare tests in the New York subways, the Pentagon and six other American cities and regions between 1950 and 1966 using “nondisease causing biological substances.’’But an Army spokesman disputed a newspaper report that the tests may have caused minor epidemics of pneumonia and a rare heart valve infection. He said the full reports of the experiments were kept in vaults in Utah and no complete statement could be made until they were studied.“This happened up to 25 years ago,” the spokesman said. The Long Island, N.Y. newspaper Newsday said there was evidence linking some outbreaks of disease to the tests.The tests ended in 1969 following a White House ban on offensive biological warfare and stockpiling.“The biological substances involved in the tests were used as simulants for training and field evaulation to determine vulnerability to enemy biological attack and adequacy of defense measures,” the Army said.“The substances were routinely used at the Chemical Corps School for training students on biological sampling and analysis procedures.”The substances in the tests*included bacillus globigii, ser-ratia marcescene and aspergil-lus fumigatus.Bacillus globigii and serratia marcescene were described as “present throughout the environment and ... considered not to cause disease.”“However, for some individuals who lack a capability to develop immunity to most diseases serratia marcescene could conceivably act as an opportunist and produce an infection,” the statement said.Serratia marcescene was used in tests in 1950 in the San Francisco Bay area. The statement said it was not believed to have any connection with an outbreak there from 1969 to 1974 of serratia marcdscene endocarditis, a rare heart valve disease.Nineteen cases of the disease were discovered in the bay area, 17 of them involving drug addicts and 14 of them fatal.Col. Ignacio Hernandez-Fragoso of the Army Medical Corp wrote to the San Francisco General Hospital last year, “There is no way that presently found organisms can be related to the trials. Our data indicates that these organisms decayed at an extensively rapid rate and that none remained after 24 hours.”The spokesman dismissed any connection between a doubling in the number of pneumonia cases in the Ft. McClellan, Ala., area and the Key West Fla., area in the year following 1952 germ warfare tests there.In a simulated tests in the New York subway in 1966, a harmless substance was said to have been dropped on theBell to resignclub membershipPLAINS,Ga. OJPI) —Griffin Bell, Jimmy Carter’s nominee as attorney general, announced Wednesday he will resign his membership in all private clubs, saying his new job needs to be “a symbol of equality.”Bell is Carter’s most controversial appointee thus far. Civil rights groups have attacked his civil rights decisions as a federal judge, particularly an Atlanta desegregation case in which he called for busing only as a last resort.One of the major criticisms was that he belonged to private clubs which discriminate on the basis of race or religion.tracks from a moving train and its progress through the tunnels traced by experts.A simulated contamination of the drinking water supply in the Pentagon and air conditioners of several government buildings in Washington was carried out in 1950 to test thebuildings’ vulnerability.Other tests the Army said were made at a U.S. Navy installation at Meehanicsburg, Pa., in 1951; at Panama City, Fla., in 1953; and at Point Mugu and Fort Hueneme, Calif, in 1954.Hearing{Continued from Page 1)provided by the Legislature. “Any ideas that are presented to the Highway Committee and then relayed to the Highway Department will naturally have to be geared to the funding we have available,” Freeman said. “That, of course, has a lot to do with the priorities that are established also.”the Athens Animal Shelter reports that a dog believed earlier this month to be rabid has been tested and found safe.The dog was discovered in the storage room of a residence on Hereford Drive and was picked up by animal shelter director L.C. Terry to be turned over to the helath department.The dog was reported growling and snapping at anywhone who approached it. and was foaming at the mouth-all signs of hydrophobia Terry saidAfter several cases of rabies were reported in the Redstone Arsenal vacinity in late summer, the Humane Society began looking closely for any signs of the disease in other areas.A state rabies innoculation law was initiated in Sepatember requiring all dogs to be vaccinated and wear a tag signifying that the animal has received the shot. The penalty
Newspaper Details
Athens News Courier
Athens, Alabama, US
Thu, Dec 23, 1976
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Lynn M.
USA 23 Jun 2018
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