Vets to Testify on 1960s Chemical Tests

The Associated Press comes today with the story of Jack Alderson (pictured above), a retired Navy Reserve lieutenant commander who claims his allergies, skin cancers and chronic fatigue -- as well as the sicknesses of his comrades -- are directly linked to the secret weapons tests he helped conduct in the Pacific during the 1960s.

Alderson was ordered to keep mum about his involvement in project SHAD -- Shipboard Hazard and Defense -- where the military tested germs and test participants were given experimental vaccines. But low turn out at a 1993 reunion motivated him to speak out. Alderson found out that more than half of the approximately 500 crew members who participated in the tests were either dead, inflicted with cancer, breathing problems or other ailments.

Alderson and other witnesses are to testify before a House Veterans Affairs panel today considering a bill requiring more Pentagon disclosure of Cold War era chemical and germ weapons testing along with extending benefits to vets who took part in them. Similar legislation is scheduled to be voted on by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee later this month.

Officials at the Pentagon haven't ruled out a health link but say such a link is hard to prove.

"We cannot say that this exposure 40 years ago had absolutely no health effect," said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director for force health protection and readiness at the Pentagon. "I don't think any physician would risk saying that. Because how do you prove that that's the case?"

-Dippold

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