THE SUBJECTS / THE ARMY
The Army’s own human experiments.
RECORD / AT A GLANCE
DOCUMENTED
The VA confirms the testing. In 2016 a federal appeals court held that the Army has a continuing duty to tell former subjects about health risks.
THE EVENTS / THE CLAIM / THE RECORD
1955 – 1975
About 7,000 soldiers are tested with more than 250 chemicals.
26 January 2016
The court upholds the Army’s duty to warn former test subjects.
READ THE FILE
The military used its own soldiers as lab animals.
Soldiers, chemicals and a court ruling.
Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE
2 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.
About 7,000 soldiers were tested with more than 250 chemicals at Edgewood from 1955 to 1975.
Who says it: The VA.
Edgewood was an Army program, separate from the CIA’s MKULTRA, though both tested LSD.
Who says it: Online posts.
OPEN THE RECORD
Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.
VA summary: about 7,000 soldiers exposed to more than 250 chemicals in classified Army tests, 1955–1975.
Holds that the Army has a continuing duty to warn former test subjects and, by majority, to provide medical care.
The committee’s 1976 account of BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE, MKULTRA, MKDELTA, MKNAOMI, MKSEARCH, the Olson case, the 1973 destruction and the Army’s overseas LSD interrogations. Written before the 1977 discovery of the financial files.
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The military used its own soldiers as lab animals.
Veterans said for decades that they were used as test subjects and then abandoned. [1] Their case reached the federal courts, where the government did not deny the experiments happened. [2]
VA summary: about 7,000 soldiers exposed to more than 250 chemicals in classified Army tests, 1955–1975.
Holds that the Army has a continuing duty to warn former test subjects and, by majority, to provide medical care.
Soldiers, chemicals and a court ruling.
The Department of Veterans Affairs says that from 1955 to 1975 the Army Chemical Corps ran classified studies at Edgewood Arsenal. About 7,000 soldiers were exposed to more than 250 different chemicals, including nerve agents such as sarin, mustard agents, the incapacitant BZ, and LSD and PCP. The VA notes that long-term follow-up “was not planned”, and that a 2016 report to the Defense Department found no significant effects in subjects’ later health; the National Academies reviewed that report in 2018. [1]
In Vietnam Veterans of America v. CIA, the Ninth Circuit noted that “tens of thousands” of service members were exposed in chemical and biological experiments from World War I to the mid-1970s. In its 2016 amended opinion it agreed that the Army has an ongoing, enforceable duty to give former test subjects “newly acquired information” about their health. [2]
The CIA’s link is through MKNAOMI, its long joint project with the Army’s Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick. [3]
What we can’t tell you. Edgewood was an Army program. It is not proof that every Edgewood test was part of MKULTRA.
VA summary: about 7,000 soldiers exposed to more than 250 chemicals in classified Army tests, 1955–1975.
Holds that the Army has a continuing duty to warn former test subjects and, by majority, to provide medical care.
The committee’s 1976 account of BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE, MKULTRA, MKDELTA, MKNAOMI, MKSEARCH, the Olson case, the 1973 destruction and the Army’s overseas LSD interrogations. Written before the 1977 discovery of the financial files.
Approved reader comments and ratings appear here when JavaScript is on.