Edgewood Arsenal human experiments

At Edgewood Arsenal, the Army's chemical warfare center near Baltimore, researchers ran a program of human testing from 1955 to 1975. About 6,700 soldiers, recruited with promises of time off and comfortable quarters, took part. They were exposed to some 250 substances, including small doses of nerve agents such as sarin and VX, tear gases, LSD and BZ, a powerful incapacitating drug that causes days of delirium. The Army wanted to know what doses would harm or disable an enemy, how to protect its own troops, and whether psychochemicals could win battles without killing.¹²

Soldiers signed volunteer forms, but many later said they were told little about the substances or the risks, and there was little follow up. The program came under scrutiny in 1975, when Army records surfaced during the wider investigations into intelligence and military abuses. A 1982 National Academy of Sciences review found few clear long term effects, but veterans reported lasting problems. In 2009 veterans' groups sued the Army and CIA, and in 2013 a federal court ruled that the Army has an ongoing duty to notify test subjects of newly learned information that may affect their health, and in 2017 the Army began mailing notification letters.¹²³