Edgewood Arsenal research

Always the optimist, I did not allow myself to dwell on shortfalls. In 1990, I received another phone call, this time from Washington, DC. The caller asked whether I would take part in a TV interview. As usual, I was ready to cooperate. He told me that Michael Bilton, producer of a British monthly documentary program called First Thursday, was planning to make an hour-long special about the Edgewood Arsenal research and he wanted my views represented. He might come to Woodland Hills from England to discuss it with me. 

Department of the Army, Edgewood Arsenal, Research Laboratories, Medical Research Laboratory, Edgewood Arsenal, Md. Edgewood Arsenal Technical Memorandum EATM 114-10. 1967. 19 p. 

Ward PF. A Summary of Ecological Investigations at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland Fiscal Year 1970. Edgewood, Md Edgewood Arsenal Research Labs 1971 15-23. Edgewood Arsenal Special Publication 100-101. 

Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland... 

By Gilbert Gordon, Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, Robert G. Kieffer, Pennwalt Corporation, Pharmaceutical Division, Rochester, New York, and David H. Rosenblatt, Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland.201... 

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. 

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 selection process was initiated by a local announcement that a team from Edgewood Arsenal was coming to describe their research program. Higher authorities ordered commanders to set aside suffrcient time at the Post auditorium for would-be volunteers to complete applications, but only if they wished. From 500-1,000 curious soldiers usually showed up. An Edgewood physician would be there to tell the story of our program and show a movie of the facility and testing procedures. After that, those who were interested completed the required forms. 

In theory, the notion had much to recommend it and when the Wolff Committee submitted its report in 1955, a research road map seemed clearly marked. Army Chemical Corps scientists were soon venturing into unexplored territory. Since Edgewood Arsenal had facilities for animal testing, an abundance of chemical expertise and a volunteer program that was nascent but capable of expansion, it was a natural choice as a location for LSD investigative work,... 

This Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service is awarded to Dr. Frederick R. Sidell of the Clinical Investigation Branch, Clinical Research Department, Medical Research Laboratory, Research Laboratories, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, for exemplary performance of duty during the period from August 1966 to February 1969. 

This was nice, but in some ways, it could also be a liability. We were slow to notice the darkening cloud of public disapproval as its growing anti-military shadow began to block out the sun that previously shone on our classified research program at Edgewood Arsenal. 

LTC, Medical Corps, USA Chief, Clinical Research Dept Medical Research Laboratory Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland... 

To the Editor Dr. Thomas L. Perry s war-protest letter requested constructive suggestions of the Journal readers. I should like to ask him "constmctive to whose way of thinking ". His knowledge of such places as Fort Detrick and Edgewood Arsenal seems rather remarkable for a pure scientist. I am certain that the majority of American medical researchers do not have this feel for these installations, let alone similar Canadian military bases. 

Many books and articles have been published about the shady and nefarious activities of the CIA in relation to LSD, supposedly contemporaneously with our own officially approved medical research. I have read several of them and it is distressing how often our clinical research program has been confused with the CIA s covert use of LSD. Some authors do not even refer to the drugs we studied by their correct names, and attribute properties to them that are quite fanciful. A primary purpose of this book, therefore, is to provide truthful, comprehensive, accurate information about the Edgewood Arsenal medical research program, and what we actually learned from our studies. 

In 1989, still another after-image of Edgewood appeared. Enoch Noch Callaway, a distinguished professor of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF), unexpectedly called me at home. Fie had done some of the earliest research with atropine at Edgewood Arsenal in the early 1950s. Although unaware of this at the time, I had called him on impulse one morning in 1967 from Karl Pribram s lab, to ask a question about his latest article in the American Journal of Psychiatry. 

Looking back, 1 have regrets about many things in my life, but my participation in the research program at Edgewood Arsenal is not one of them. 

The research scientists recognized that they could not fulfill this mission by animal experiments alone. Employees at Edgewood Arsenal volunteered, but research deficiencies, including a lack of controls and the preconceptions of subjects familiar with the agents, limited the value of these studies. 

In September 1955, the Commander of the Edgewood Arsenal Medical Laboratories formally requested permission to use volunteers in research involving nonlethal psychochemicals. This was largely a result of the Wolff Committee s final report, which included a detailed plan for field experiments involving small units. 

Clovis ER, Kimura KK, Goodman AI, Clark BJ Clinical Investigation of EA 1729. Edgewood Arsenal, MD Chemical Research and Development Laboratory CRDL Technical Report 3074. US Army Report, June, 1961. 

Medical Research Laboratory, Edgewood Arsenal, MD, Unpublished manuscript, 1963... 

In addition to his research at Edgewood Arsenal, he has broad experience in the area of alcohol and drug abuse and has published numerous scientific articles and book chapters. His teaching activities include many invited lectures, seminars and the direct supervision of medical students. As a clinician he spent 30 years in hospital and office settings, as well as a variety of community clinics and residential treatment centers. Currently he resides and writes at home in Santa Rosa, California. 

Ketchum JS, Aghajanian GK, Bing O. The Human Assessment of EA 1729 and EA 3528 by the Inhalation Route. Edgewood Arsenal, Md Chemical Research and Development Laboratory 1964. CRDL Technical Report 3226. 

Tharp B, Ketchum JS. Performance effects of finphenazine, haloperidol Clinical Research Division, Medical research Lahoratories, Edgewood Arsenal, MD, Unpnhlished manuscript, 1965. 

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