Judge Orders U.S. Army to Release Information On Human Testing Programs

Judge Orders U.S. Army to Release Information On Human Testing Programs

By John Curran

A federal judge in California has ordered the Department of the Army to begin issuing information to soldiers who were participants in biological and chemical tests regarding any new and pertinent information that the military branch has uncovered since 2006.

The order is part of a class action lawsuit that has wended its way through the court system since 2009. The case was filed by the Vietnam Veterans of America and several individual soldiers who accused the Army and CIA of experimenting on thousands of soldiers between 1955 and 1975 with hundreds of types of drugs and chemicals, including nerve agents, mustard gas, mescaline, LSD, amphetamines and barbiturates. Plaintiffs sought to learn more about conditions in these programs that may have led to significant health problems or could do so in the future.

Judge Claudia Wilken wrote in her Nov. 19 decision that “Department of the Army has an ongoing duty to warn members of the class about newly acquired information that may affect their well-being now and in the future as it becomes available.”

The original Army human testing class action lawsuit alleged that the activities of various federal agencies and branches of the military included the “[concealing] of the existence of the human experimentation tests and the test results… and destroyed most of the documentation of the tests [following leaks].” The results were plaintiffs allegedly “left to fight their demons alone for decades” due to inadequate healthcare or information regarding the chemical and biological tests in which they were subjects.

Not all test subjects are included as a result of granting the Vietnam Veterans of America, among other plaintiffs, summary judgment. Judge Wilken noted that the Army would have to provide information to those who were enrolled in human testing programs prior to Aug. 8, 1988, and that the information would start with what was collected beginning June 30, 2006 and continuing indefinitely as the military branch develops new data regarding chemical tests and other now-shuttered programs.

Specific data or records that are included in this requirement are: “The nature, duration, and purpose of the testing undergone by that particular test subject; the method and means by which the testing was conducted; the inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected by that test subject as a result of participation in the testing; and the effects upon their health which may possibly come from such participation.”

The plaintiffs are represented by James P. Bennett, Eugene Illovsky, Stacey M. Sprenkel and Ben Patterson of Morrison & Foerster LLP.

The Army Human Testing Class Action Lawsuit is Vietnam Veterans of America, et al. v. Central Intelligence Agency, et al., Case No. 09-cv-00037, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions