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OCR for page 31
CONCLUSIONS
An 82% response rate was obtained from Edgewood test subjects who
were alive, could be located, and received a mailed questionnaire
intended to gather information on their current health status.
Long-term health effects of interest were excess cancer and
adverse mental, necrologic, hepatic, and reproductive effects that
might have resulted from experimental exposure of test subjects to
chemicals administered at Edgewood.
A review of the subjects' current use of tobacco, alcoholic
beverages, and recreational drugs provided no unusual findings.
Subjects tested with anticholinesterases, anticholinergics,
cholinesterase Deactivators, or psychochemicals did not differ
significantly from NOT or OCT subjects in their replies to questions
about current health status. Almost 90% of all respondents reported
no health problems related to toxic exposures, and 79% reported good
to excellent health. (Subjects tested with LSD were not within the
purview of this investigation, inasmuch as they had been evaluated and
reported on earlier by a different group, which used other methods.
The questionnaire revealed no adverse health effects among these
subjects, except for an increase in later use of LSD.)
The subjects tested with irritants and vesicants, including those
who received skin burns from mustard gas, reported no significant
frequency of adverse health effects or skin cancer.
A review of admissions of Edgewood test subjects to Army hospitals
in 1958-1983 and VA hospitals in 1963-1981 and specific admitting
diagnoses yielded some interesting findings. Three significant
increases were considered possible: (1) malignant neoplasms among men
exposed to anticholinesterases and admitted to VA hospitals and
(2) nervous system and (3) sense organ disorders among men exposed to
LSD and admitted to VA hospitals and to Army hospitals. The numbers
of these admissions were small, however, and no evidence of associ-
ation with exposure to specific chemicals or with dosage was noted.
The experimental methods used in this study and the available
comparison groups were such that only large effects were likely to be
uncovered. The large standard errors, the initial differences between
the exposed and unexposed groups, the possibility that more than one
exposure might have led to the same adverse effect, and the self-
reporting nature of the questionnaire all would tend to obscure small
differences.
-31-
OCR for page 32
Representative terms from entire chapter:
edgewood test
