"Chemical Warfare Agent Toxicity for Both Genders from Different Age and Ethnic Groups"

Introduction
Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project

>>> The Citizen's Education Project and the Sunshine Project requested this report in August 2004 because its title suggests that the US Army has recently exposed people to chemical weapons (CW) agents. The report does not detail any recent human experiments, although that conclusion can only be tentative, because large portions of the report are blacked-out and parts of the D049 program are classified.

The report began when the Pacific Command noted that US CW toxicity data is based on a 70 kilogram male. Are there differences, the Pacific Command asked, for people who are not 70 kg males? Assuming that the Command was asking for the right reasons (i.e. defensive ones), then the question was reasonable enough.

Once the query got to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Dugway Proving Ground, however, it morphed into a gem of late 20th century military science. Reminiscent of phrenology (racial skull studies) in vogue a hundred years ago, the report will leave critical readers laughing at its quack ethnic distinctions; but also horrified at what is implied by this "science."

Consider, for example, the tactical implications in a chemical conflict if the US Army relies on older data, reported in this paper, that "African-Americans are more resistant than Caucasians to [mustard gas] vapor and liquid." It's a good thing such studies were not completed during the First World War, or we might have witnessed the "Charge of the Black Brigade." The report also cites the 1940s San Jose Project, in which "continental" and Puerto Rican soldiers were compared for their reactions to mustard gas exposure.

Fast forward - in time, if not enlightenment: According to the 1999 DTRA / Dugway report, for the purposes of chemical warfare humanity can be divided into four "general ethnic groups." These, it says, can be defined as follows:

Based on these quack distinctions, the report goes on to draw conclusions about susceptibility to blister and nerve agents. The lunacy should be self-evident. We don't know what happened to Native Americans or to Africa, among other peoples and places, in DTRA's ethnic scheme. We're not going to hazard a guess.

Conclusions based on ethnic categories include, for example, that the physical characteristics of an average "Oriental" male lessen the amount of CW agent that he must be exposed to in order to produce a casualty, but that, relatively speaking, he can inhale a greater proportion of that agent without being taken out of action - or placed in a body bag.

Apparently referring to "Caucasians," the report concludes that American military men (but not women) are among the world's best at withstanding exposure to nerve and blister agents.

The report concludes by suggesting how to adapt the 70 kg man toxicity data to fit "other Asians," "South Americans," women, etc. The section containing these conclusions was entirely blacked-out. DTRA maintains that the information is export-controlled, meaning that it cannot be shared with non-Americans without potentially endangering US national security.