[CPEO-MEF] U.S. Tested Sarin in Hawaiian Rain Forest

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

U.S. Tested Sarin in Hawaiian Rain Forest
5,000 Troops Involved in 1967 Experiments Are Urged to Contact Pentagon
Reuters
Friday, November 1, 2002; Page A15

The U.S. military in 1967 conducted tests using the deadly nerve agent
sarin in a Hawaiian rain forest as part of a Cold War series of chemical
and biological experiments on land and sea, the Pentagon said yesterday.
.

Military units involved in the Hawaii test, dubbed "Red Oak, Phase 1,"
were not identified, and there was no indication of harm to troops or
civilians from explosions to determine the effectiveness of artillery
shells using sarin in the jungle.

But the Defense Department, releasing five new reports in a continuing
series on tests conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, urged any of the more
than 5,000 troops involved who might have suffered ill effects to
contact the Pentagon.

The Red Oak tests in April and May 1967 were conducted in the Upper
Waiakea Forest Reserve on Hawaii and near Fort Sherman in the Panama
Canal Zone. The Panama phase used a simulated nerve agent, not sarin.

Sarin is a volatile, deadly nerve agent that can be inhaled or absorbed
through the eyes and skin. A sufficient dose within minutes causes
difficult breathing, runny nose, confusion and dimming vision -- then
coma and death.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48950-2002Oct31.html

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