Army determines health risk from secret St. Louis testing

[Sherman A1]

ST. LOUIS -- An Army investigation into secret chemical testing in impoverished areas of St. Louis during the Cold War era has corroborated three previous studies that the testing posed no health risk to those who lived in the areas, according to a letter from a top Army official.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Army used motorized blowers atop a low-income housing high-rise, on schools and in other locations to spray zinc cadmium sulfide, a fine fluorescent powder, into the air. The testing was part of a biological weapons program and St. Louis was chosen because it bore some resemblance to Russian cities that the U.S. might attack.

Both of Missouri’s U.S. senators, Republican Roy Blunt and Democrat Claire McCaskill, wrote to the Army after learning of St. Louis professor Lisa Martino-Taylor’s research about the program.

Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army, said in a letter received by Blunt’s office on Friday that Army investigators reviewed several assessments and studies compiled over the past nearly two decades and found no health risk from the zinc cadmium sulfide (ZnCdS) sprayed in St. Louis.


http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Army-No-health-risk-from-secret-St-Louis-testing-177003511.html

Well, we should all feel better now......

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. and, the fact ...

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Army used motorized blowers atop a low-income housing high-rise, on schools and in other locations to spray zinc cadmium sulfide, a fine fluorescent powder, into the air. The testing was part of a biological weapons program and St. Louis was chosen because it bore some resemblance to Russian cities that the U.S. might attack.

And the fact, that there were/are a lot of Black folks living there didn't hurt.

Tuskegee ... Now this? Yep, I do have good reason to trust my government and its experiments.

[Scuba]

2. Nothing to see here folks. Move along now.

Just a black neighborhood anyway.

[DollarBillHines]

3. Tip of the iceberg

One can only imagine and shudder at the thought of what will never see the light of day.