Hawaii site of germ warfare tests

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 34

Hawaii site of germ warfare tests

NZPA-AP Honolulu The United States Army conducted open-air biological warfare simulations in Hawaii during the 19605, using bacteria that could harm hospital patients, the elderly and people susceptible to disease, according to the “Honolulu Advertiser.” “The public never was told of the tests and state officials were told only that the Army wanted to conduct experiments on meteorological conditions on Hawaii Island,” the newspaper said. “If the true nature of the tests had been known, the state probably would have rejected the Army’s request to lease the site,” said a state forester, Libert Landgraf. The “Advertiser” said that the Army has admitted

conducting such tests.

An Army spokesman, Major Donald Maple, said that open-air biological testing in the United States was stopped in 1969. According to declassified test reports obtained by the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, three types of bacteria were used in the Hawaiian tests. “The Army believed at the time that the bacteria posed no health risk, but all three now are classified as having at least limited disease-causing potential to certain people,” the newspaper said. “Citizens of Hawaii were used as unknowing guinea pigs, and the tests raise an important ethical issue, regardless of whether the Army thought the germs were harmless,” said a University of Hawaii environmental biologist, Sanford Siegel. Walter Quisenberry, the state’s deputy health director from 1963 until his appointment as health director in 1966, said he did not recall being told about any of the experiments. “It was not likely the military told state officials anything about its secret tests,” Mr Quisenberry said. “The three types of bacteria were used in similar secret experiments, which have come to light only in recent years, conducted on the mainland in the 1950 s and 19605,” the newspaper said.

“One of the germs, serratia marcescens, could cause illness or worsen the conditions of people who were already vulnerable because they might be fighting a disease such as cancer,” said Dr Francis Pien of Straub Hospital.

“At least six sets of tests were held in Hawaii between February 1963 and October 1967,” the newspaper reported.