[CPEO-MEF] Puerto Ricans Outraged Over Secret Medical Experiments

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Puerto Ricans Outraged Over Secret Medical Experiments
By Carmelo  Ruiz-Marrero
IPS
Article Dated 10/21/2002

SAN JUAN - Puerto Rican activists are outraged by news that local
residents were used as guinea pigs in two sets of secret medical
experiments.

The first tests were allegedly carried out by a doctor whose cancer
research in a local hospital in the 1930s reportedly included injecting
unknowing patients with cancer cells.

The second experiments, using biological and chemical weapons, were
performed by the U.S. military in the 1960s and 1970s at various
locations in the United States and beyond, including the Puerto Rico
town of Vieques.

The military's revelation of those tests more than a week ago has added
fuel to local demands that the U.S. Navy leave the island territory.

The U.S. Department of Defense admitted having conducted chemical and
biological warfare experiments after complaints of ill health from 55
veterans, who claim to have served as guinea pigs in these tests.

The experiments were performed outdoors, meaning civilians might also
have been exposed to harmful chemical and biological agents, say
observers. Apart from Vieques, tests were also performed in Alaska,
Hawaii, Florida, Canada, the Marshall Islands and the U.K.

In Vieques, the military sprayed trioctyl phosphate on troops at a
firing range in May 1969. According to the local Committee for the
Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV), the substance can harm the
skin, eyes and respiratory system, and is known to cause cancer in
animals.

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