In January a lawyer from San Francisco named Gordon Erspamer of Morrison & Foerster LLP, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the veterans used in chemical, biological and drug experiments by the CIA, DoD, and U.S.
Army on Behalf of Troops Exposed to Testing of Chemical and Biological Weapons at Edgewood Arsenal and Other Top Secret Sites from 1942 thru 1975.
SAN FRANCISCO (January 7, 2009) – Attorneys at Morrison & Foerster LLP have filed an unprecedented action against the Defense Department, the CIA, and other government institutions based upon failures to care for those veterans who "volunteered" in thousands of secret experiments to test toxic chemical and biological substances under code names such as MKULTRA. The new case comes on the heels of an earlier case the firm filed on behalf of veterans afflicted with Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD"), which is now pending in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The firm is handling both cases on a pro bono basis.
The current action was brought in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, on behalf of the Vietnam Veterans of America and six aging veterans with multiple diseases and ailments tied to a diabolical and secret testing program, whereby U.S. military personnel were deliberately exposed, by government and military agencies, to chemical and biological weapons and other toxins without informed consent. This multifaceted research program, which was launched in the early 1950s and continued through at least 1976, was conducted not only at the Edgewood Arsenal and Fort Detrick, Maryland, but also across America by universities and hospitals under contract to Defendants.
Defendants include the CIA, the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense ("DoD"), and various government officials responsible for these agencies. The CIA secretly provided financing, personnel, and direction for the experiments, which were mainly conducted or contracted by the Army.
Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief only – no monetary damages – and Plaintiffs seek redress for 25 years of diabolical experiments followed by over 30 years of neglect, including:
the use of troops to test nerve gas, psychochemicals, and thousands of other toxic chemical or biological substances, and perhaps most gruesomely, the insertion of septal implants in the brains of subjects in a ghastly series of mind control experiments that went awry, leaving
many civilian and military subjects with permanent disabilities;
the failure to secure informed consent and other widespread failures to follow the precepts of U.S. and international law regarding the use of human subjects, including the 1953 Wilson Directive and the Nuremberg Code;
an almost fanatical refusal by the DoD, the CIA, and the Army to satisfy their legal and moral obligations to locate the victims of their gruesome experiments or to provide health care or compensation to them;
the deliberate destruction by the CIA of evidence and files documenting its illegal actions, actions which were punctuated by fraud, deception, and a callous disregard for the value of human life.
The Complaint asks the Court to determine that Defendants’ actions were illegal and that Defendants have a duty to notify all victims and to provide them with health care going forward. According to Gordon P. Erspamer, a litigation partner in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco
office, "Until this case is concluded, and all the victims are found and made whole, we cannot put behind us this sad chapter in American history when the government exploited the very citizens, both civilian and military, that it was supposed to protect."
Vietnam Veterans of America’s President John Rowan commented, "Over 30 years ago, the government promised to locate the victims of the MKULTRA experiments and to take care of their needs. It now is painfully obvious that what it really wants is for the victims to just quietly die off
while the government takes baby steps. VVA cannot leave these veterans behind."
For further information, please contact lead counsel for Plaintiffs, Gordon P. Erspamer, 415-268- 6411, GErspamer@mofo.com.
Additionally, you may contact the following Plaintiffs: Vietnam
Veterans of America, 800-882-1316 (John Rowan, jrowan@vva.org); Eric P. Muth, 203-874-4595,
emuth@sbcglobal.net; Wray C. Forrest, 719-635-9086,
FaronYoung2@netscape.com;
David Dufrane, 518-546-7870, ddufrane@nycap.rr.com
Franklin D.Rochelle, 910-346-5484.
Bruce Price is available by special arrangement with counsel.
Contact: Frances Cosico
Phone: 415.268.6063 | Email: FCosico@mofo.com
4 2 5 MARKET STREET, SAN FRANCI SCO, CA 9 4 105
MEDIA ADVISORY
MORRI SON & FOERSTER LLP
Last night Gordon Erspamer, Frank Rochelle and Dr James Ketchum the psychiatrist at Edgewood Arsenal and at one time was the Chief of Clinic (in charge of the experiments) participated in a 3 hour radio show on the Coast to Coast with Goerge Knapp it was a lively debate about the realities of the programs and some misinformation, people not having the right dates and when programs started and ended, but for the most part it was a spirited debate, when Frank Rochelle entered it in the 3rd hour.
The Cold War experimental programs are no longer the question if they did happen or what happened, it is now down to what liability the federal government has to help these veterans, and or their widows and children.
Canada and Great Britain who were both conducting similar programs and in many cases worked in conjunction with DR Ketchum, Dr Van Sin and Dr Fred Siddell and other researchers at Edgewood Arsenal and Fort detrick and with Dr Sidney Gottlieb of the CIA.
In Canada this was their solution to the exposure problems, remember now they have universal health care
All this comes on the heels of a similar scandal Weston exposed earlier this month, in which the widows of 29 soldiers who were used as human guinea pigs to test chemical weapons in Alberta and Ottawa from 1941-1970 have been denied compensation. Once again, Canadian governments of all stripes publicly denied this secret testing had taken place for decades. Now, these widows are being denied a measly $24,000 in compensation, which the feds finally agreed to last year, because they don't have wills proving they are entitled to their husband's estates.
this comes from this web post, I remember the subject when the settlement was made a few years ago.
The British came to terms with their program at Porton Downs, England
Porton Down test veterans settle claim for £3m 31 Jan 2008
Ken Earl, Spokesperson for the Group said today:
"I am so pleased that settlement has at last been reached. It will allow our members to at last have some degree of closure on this issue."
Martyn Day, solicitor for the Group from Leigh Day and Co, said today:
"Today ends a very sorry chapter in the history of the Ministry of Defence. The treatment of the veterans was simply appalling. However, today's settlement and apology will, undoubtedly, go some way to healing the wounds that this episode caused. It is such a shame it has taken so long for this point to have been reached."
Alan Care, longstanding lawyer (since 1994) for the Veterans, said today:
"Today is the culmination of well over a decade's work to obtain some justice and recognition for the veterans who have undoubtedly been treated poorly until now by the Ministry of Defence for so many years. Today we see a truly historic apology from the MoD and government who now "sincerely apologise" to the veterans."
So now we are the last nation to deal with the veterans of our Cold War human experiments, and after more than 60 years since the US military started doing human experiments during WW2 and then in 1953 began the secretive program at Edgewood Arsenal and Fort Detrick, Dugway, Utah, SHAD/112. At least the SHAD/112 veterans have been given medical care at the VA regardless of their incomes as category 6 veterans and are able to recieve medical care for all of their medical problems. None of the other "test vets" even have that from the VA.
It is my belief that all of the "test vets" should be given complete medical care, and if there is any reasonable doubt that their medical problems could be linked to the intentional exposures or thru environmental exposures then the VA shpuld grant service connection under "reasonable doubt". Edgewood Arsenal is one of the most contaminated bases on earth besides Dugway, Utah, Deseret test Center. In 1978 the EPA forced the Army to cap all of the water wells on Edgewood Arsenal and in the town of Edgewood, Maryland due to the contaminants and high levels made it toxic. They used bottle water until out side sources could be found and piped into the town and base.
My personal story has been told numerous times the best was written by Kossack TxSharon on August 6, 2006 4300 Men killed or disabled! No questions asked.
Then another Kossack Jeff Huber retired Navy Commander wrote this for e pluribus media on 17 November 2006
President Obama could have his new VA Secretary General Eric Shinseki settle this mess by making the other "test vets" category 6 eligible for medical care like the SHAD/112 veteran are. He could also ask Secretary of Defense Gates to relook at the awards system and see if the volunteers or "volunteered" should be awarded Army Commendation Medals for exceptional service, by placing themselves in harms way thru exposures to chemical weapons and or dangerous drugs during these Cold War experiments.
Bernard G. Elfert of Florida was assigned duty at the facility. He recalls, "Clinical and other testing was conducted to determine the effects of various agents on humans. The testing programs were highly classified. I am unaware as to the current security classifications of the toxic chemicals and phychochemicals employed there, so I cannot specify their designations, the agents involved or regimens. However, I have heard that since then most agents tested have been outlawed for military use."
Elfert says, "In the absence of volunteer participation the various chemical agents could not have been tested. The nature of the testing involved agents that posed unknown risk factors and such hazards could not be forced on military personnel as a duty." He believes the exposure to these various tests placed volunteers in danger and at great personal risk going far beyond the call of duty. In his opinion, those who underwent the tests were heroic. Bernard G. Elfert is a retired Army Lt Colonel.
For Veterans ... Justice Delayed ... Is Justice Denied written by Tom Segel July 22, 2005
This issue has been delayed and denied for decades now, it is time for DOD to quit stonewalling these aging veterans and to inform the widows of some of the deceased veterans that they may be entitled to medical care and veterans benefits if their spouses deaths can be linked to medical problems caused by the exposures. How hard is it to say that we are sorry as a nation that this happened, here is an Army Commendation Medal for your service and to order the VA to give the veterans and the widows the benefit of the doubt on medical issues that may be related to the Cold War experiments?
Does it take an act of Congress to do the right thing? Or can a really decent President just tell the government to get with it and fix the problems? I think the President can and should, it would be the right thing.