Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 1
1
INTRODUCTION
In the spring of 1980, the Department of the Army asked the
Committee on Toxicology of the National Research Council's Board on
Toxicology and Environmental Health Hazards to study the possible
chronic or delayed adverse health effects incurred by servicemen who
had been exposed experimental] y to various chemicals at Aberdeen
Proving Ground, Edgewood, Maryland, during the years 19 58-197 5 . The
Edgewood tests were conducted to learn how potential chemical warfare
agents might af feet humans over a short period and how such aff ected
humans might respond to therapy against such agents. The Army
believed that relevant information could not be obtained from animal
experimentation alone and that it was theref ore necessary to conf irm
animal findings by using hen volunteers.
Some 6, 720 soldiers took part in this program. To understand
the extent Deco which they might have experienced unanticipated long-
term or delayed adverse effects, an extensive search of reports,
records, and other data was undertaken. This search and study and
evaluation of all available information on the involved chemicals
themselves were accomplished by expert panels under the direction of
the Committee on Toxicology.
To facilitate evaluat ion of the hazards associated with a long
list of chemicals, the chemicals were grouped according to pharma-
cologic class. Of the five ma jor groups of rel ated chemicals, the
largest and most important were the anticholinesterase and anticho-
linergic chemi cars; these were reviewed first. Other chemical groups
included cholinesterase Deactivator;, psychochemicals, and irritants
and vesicants, and the effort culminated in a report issued in June
1982, Possible Long-Term Health Effects of Short-Term Exposure to
Chemical Ager~cs: Volume l--Anticholinesterases and Anticholin-
~_~h 24 ant icholinergic and 15 ant icho-
linesterase chemicals that were administered to approximately 3,200
subj ects .
The present report evaluates toxicologic and epidemiologic data
relevant to the testing of approximately 750 subjects exposed to
cho~nesterase Deactivators, about 260 exposed to psychochemicals,
and i, 500 exposed to irritants or vesicants. A remaining group of
subjects used largely in tests ir~volvir~g placebo or innocuous chemi-
cals or conditions is available for comparison. and will be discussed
in Volume 3.
—1—
OCR for page 2
This report is the work of three panels of scientista--the Panel
on Cholinesterase Reactivator Chemicals, the Panel or Psychochemicals,
and the Panel on Irritants and Vesicants. The chairman of each panel
was selected from the Committee on Toxicology, and the members were
selected on the basis of their knowledge of the compounds in question
or because they represented required disciplines.
Methods of selecting, testing, and handling sub Sects used for
experimental work at Edgewood changed with time. Indeed, consent
forms and methods of obtaining consent changed for al t U. S. investi-
gators during the period in which these tests were performed. A short
history of the Edgewood testing program taken from Volume ~ is repro-
duced in Appendix A with a standard operating procedure for screening
and selecting volunteers, which was issued by the Clinical Research
Department at Edgewood on August 12, 1968.
LSD was among the psychochemicals tested at Edgewood, but its
effects were not within the purview of the National Research Cour~cil's
evaluations. Effects of LSD on 741 soldiers tested at Edgewood are
described in a report by the U.S. Army Medical Department and the U-.S.
Army Health Services Conned, issued in February 1980.2
Volume 3 will contain an evaluation of the current health status
of Edgewood subjects based on their responses to a questionnaire and
discussion and conclusions of the entire evaluation effort.
REFERENCES
1. National Research Council, Committee on Toxicology.
Long-Term Health Effects of Short-Term Exposure to Chemical
Agents. Vol. 1. Anticholinesterases and Ant, cholinergics.
Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 290 pp., 1982.
Possible
2. U.S. Army Medical Department and U.S. Army Health Services
Command. LSD Follow-Up Study Report. Project Director, David A.
McFarling. 158 pp., February 1980.
—2—
Representative terms from entire chapter:
delayed adverse
