Edgewood Arsenal

How often things occur by mere chance which we dared not even hope for. Terence Phormio, V.I. 

My Christmas surprise in 1955, as I approached graduation from Cornell University Medical College, was a persuasive Army recruiter. 

It sounded terrific. I had spent eight years scratching out the cost of my education with the help of scholarships, college loans, and part-time work as a sperm-donor, file clerk, common laborer, camp counselor, typist and night technician at a downtown blood bank. I worked straight through summers and almost every vacation break. 

For most of my four years in medical school, I lived like an artist in a garret on East 66 Street, in a fifth floor walk-up tenement, with no heat. The price was right My roommate and I each paid 9.75 a month for rent, and we were located close enough to walk to Cornell on 69 Street. We had a total of 300 square feet of floor space, a 9 x 12 foot living room and the bathtub was in the kitchen, but somehow it seemed okay. Come to think of it, we were each paying less than four cents a month per square foot of New York floor space. And tuition at one of the best medical schools in the country was only 900 a year in those days (it might be 50,000 by now). 

The all-purpose room of our tiny S floor no-heat apartment (1954) 

---

Chemical Wafare Service TDMR 832, Edgewood Arsenal, Apr. 1944. 

A. Goodman and H. Martens, Studies on the Use of Ulectric Tel Acetylcholinesterasefor Anticholinesterase Agent Detection, Edgewood Arsenal Report No. 

A. Silvestri and co-workers. Development of a Kit for Detection of Ha ardous Material Spills into Waterways, Edgewood Arsenal Special PubUcation No. ED-SP-76023,Aug. 1976. ... 

L. H. Goodson and W. B. Jacobs, deal Time Monitor, Immobilfed Enzyme Alarm and Spare Parts, Edgewood Arsenal Report No. ED-CR-77015, Eeb. 1977. J. P. Mieure and M. W. Dietrich,/ Chrom. Sci. 13, 559 (Nov. 1973). 

B. J. Ehrlich and S. E. Spencer, Development of an Automated Mustard S tack Monitor, Edgewood Arsenal Report No. ED-CR-76084, Tracer, Inc., June 1976. L. Schwart2 and co-workers. Evaluation of Ml 5/Ml 8 Enyme Detector Ticket System with Eow Concentration of GB, Edgewood Arsenal Report No. 

L. H. Goodson, Feasibility Studies on Enyme System for Detector Kits, Edgewood Arsenal Report No. ED-CR-77019, Dec. 1976. ... 

R. M. Gamson and co-workers. Detection of GB, UX and Parathion in Water, Edgewood Arsenal Report No. ED-TR-74015, June 1974. ... 

Nuclear and non-nuclear munitions (to include mines, grenades, demolition devices, explosives, explosive devices and initiators) except chemical and smoke munitions assigned to Edgewood Arsenal... 

Aircraft dispersed munitions except for chemical items assigned to Edgewood Arsenal... 

Site-Location Study for Black Powder Plant , ORG-49, Edgewood Arsenal (1972) 14) D. 

Casey, Facility Design Reviews Program for Munitions Production Base Modernization and Expansion, Status Report , PATM 2178 (1975) 33) B.W. Jezek et al, Applications of Suppressive Shielding in Hazardous Operation Protection , Rept No EM-TR-76008, Edgewood Arsenal, APG (1975) 34) W.F. Nekevis et... 

Present address Entomological Sciences and Pesticide Division, U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency, Edgewood Arsenal, Md. 21010. 

Mioduszewski, R.J., S.A. Reutter, L.L. Miller, E.J. Olajos, and S. A. Thomson. Evaluation of Airborne Exposure Limits for G-Agents Occupational and General Population Exposure Criteria, Edgewood Arsenal Report No. ERDEC-TR-489. April 1998 with Erratum Sheet dated April 17,2000. 

United States Army Headquarters. Chemical Agent Data Sheets Volume I, Edgewood Arsenal Special Report No. EO-SR-74001. Washington, DC Government Printing Office, December 1974. 

Chemical Agent Data Sheets Volume II, Edgewood Arsenal Special Report No. EO-SR-74002. 

From 1966 to 1968, Dr. Engel served in the U.S. Army at the U.S. Army Edgewood Arsenal Chemical Research Laboratories. Upon completing his tour of duty, Dr. Engel took up his position on the faculty at Queens College. For two years he served as chair of the Department of Chemistry, and he has served as head of graduate studies since 1998. 

Esparza, E. D., Baker, W. E., Oldham, G. A., "Blast Pressures Inside and Outside Suppressive Structures," Report EM-CR-76042, Edgewood Arsenal, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD., 1975. 

McNamara, B.P. 1976. Estimates of the toxicity of hydrocyanid acid vapors in man. Edgewood Arsenal Technical Report EB-TR-76023, Department of the Army, August, 1976. 

Reid, E. Emmet. "History of Offense Research, John Hopkins University Station", Historical Report No. H-149, Chemical Warfare Service, Edgewood Arsenal Technical Library. 

Jones, Lauder W. "Offense Chemical Research Section, Summary of Achievements, 1917-1918", Chemical Warfare Monograph No. 55, Edgewood Arsenal Technical Library. 

And it s a story that needs telling, one that should have been told sooner. So much of what exists in libraries and on the Internet is incorrect, and so many accounts of what took place are distortions, that a mark of dishonor remains on the escutcheon of our research at Edgewood Arsenal. I ought to know, because I was there and fully immersed in that research. 

The Edgewood Arsenal program and the earlier shady CIA experiments, involving surreptitiously administered LSD and related drugs, became indelibly linked in the public imagination. 

---