| |
G4EBT > VETS 13.12.04 15:21l 123 Lines 5552 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : BF3695G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: Health Probs (Chemicals)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0THA<DB0ERF<DB0HGW<ON0DXC<ON0RET<DB0RES<DK0WUE<GB7FCR
Sent: 041213/1057Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:26043 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:BF3695G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : VETS@WW
Ian, G0TEZ wrote:-
> I'm not saying that exposure to certain chemicals isn't dangerous but
> I can't help wondering what would have happened to jobs back then if we
> had had all these health warnings.
Substances such as asbestos is certainly a case in point with industrial
diseases, but the veterans in the US are fighting for justice for exposure
to chemicals used in warfare, such as Agent Orange in Vietnam.
Agent Orange isn't a "chemical weapon" as such - it's a defoliant which
was used to destroy vegetation in the futile hope that it would take away
vegetation cover and help win an unwinnable war. Hence, it was deployed as
a chemical weapon.
The adverse effects are still apparent today, with million of acres of
land contaminated. Vets say they've suffered a whole range of health
problems from exposure to substances such as Agent Orange, from birth
defects of their children the children (as in Vietnam), age onset
diabetes, early dementia, mental health problems, arthritis and cancer.
Some of these claims are of course difficult to prove as their incidence
has to be compared to the extent to which they occur in the population in
general.
The Vets fought for years to get their conditions acknowledged, just as
have victims from "Gulf-1" for "Gulf-War syndrome" which certainly the
British government has resisted accepting even exists. (The use of
depleted uranium weaponry in Gulf-1 and the present conflict has, and will
continue to, damage the health of those exposed to it).
One unfortunate aspect of progressing these claims is that those who are
ill have difficulty in fighting their case against the might of powerful
governments. The US and UK have a shocking record in this respect going
back many years.
Personally, I support the vets and deplore the cover-ups. In the UK a case
of nerve gas experiments which killed an Airman at Porton Down has only
now been concluded after a fight for justice lasting more than 50 years.
Ronald Maddison, an RAF engineering worker died more than 50 years ago
after being used as a guinea pig in nerve gas tests at Porton Down was
a victim of unlawful killing, an inquest jury ruled last week.
The verdict by the jury on the death of Leading Aircraftman Ronald
Maddison, 20, came after a decision by Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice,
two years ago to quash an original inquest finding of misadventure.
The inquest had been held in secret for national security reasons.
The verdict by the jury at Trowbridge, Wilts, will lead to compensation
claims from the 20-year-old serviceman's family and hundreds of other
Porton Down guinea pigs who claim they've suffered ill health since the
experiments.
LAC Maddison died on May 6, 1953, of respiratory failure shortly after
having 200mg of sarin dripped onto a pad around his arm, which penetrated
his skin.
Many of the 20,000 "volunteers" who took part in similar experiments aimed
at devising ways of countering chemical and biological agents from 1916
through to the Cold War, claimed they'd been told they were involved in
tests to cure the common cold. The experiments only came to an end in
1989.
The solicitor acting for the Porton Down veterans, said after the verdict:
"The (Maddison) family will now seek compensation. Given the facts that
have now emerged, the family wish to fully support all veterans who were
misled into attending Porton Down in their demand for a public inquiry".
The Crown Prosecution Service has already decided that nine scientists
involved in the experiments who are still alive shouldn't be prosecuted.
Two others were also investigated but they have since died.
The Ministry of Defence, responsible for the Porton Down chemical research
establishment said its lawyers were examining the possibility of seeking a
judicial review of the inquest verdict. A spokesman also said: "The MoD
did not believe that the verdict had implications for other volunteers".
(Really?)
Eric Gow, of the veterans' group, who'd been subjected to similar
experiments, said: "If the MoD had put up notices saying, "We're going to
test nerve gas on you", do you think they'd have got any volunteers? But
volunteers were pouring in because they were promised 10 or 15 shillings,
or a weekend off". (20 shillings = œ1 GBP).
David Masters, the Wiltshire coroner, said the cause of Mr Maddison's
death was "the application of a chemical warfare nerve agent in a
non-therapeutic experiment". (The second inquest had lasted six months,
and during the hearing, the MoD said that all the servicemen were told
they would involve nerve gas).
It also emerged that another serviceman, James Kelly, had nearly died in
an experiment at Porton Down nine days earlier in April 1953. He suffered
a "near fatal" poisoning, the inquest jury was told.
Alfred Thornhill, a former army ambulance driver, who was called to help
LAC Maddison after he collapsed, told the jury: "He was convulsing and
foam was coming out of his mouth. Then he was taken into the medical
centre. It was a terrible atmosphere, they were all panicking".
Britain's chemical weapons were destroyed in the 1950s, but research has
continued.
Ken Earl, chairman of the Porton Down Veterans Support Group, said:
"The veterans have been shabbily treated".
He's not wrong is he?
73 - David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Eddystone User Group Member
G-QRP Club Member No: 1339
QTH: Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 09:54 on 2004-Dec-13
Message sent using WinPack-Telnet V6.70
(Registered).
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
