Re: A question about gas warfare in San Fran in '66...

[chatski carl <chatski@gl.umbc.edu>]

On Mon, 7 Sep 1998, Jim Choate wrote:
> .... on some
> sort of bio-weapon test that occurred in '66 in San Francisco. He is
> claiming that deaths resulted.
> Anyone have a clue what he's talking about?

He is probably talking about a test run by the CIA, Navy Etc.

A navy ship in the bay sprayed SF with a 'simulated' BW agent ( Serratia
marcescens - If I remember correctly ).  This was not designed to hurt
people but to see the spread of an aerosolized agent in a real city. 
Monitoring collectors were set up all over the city including in schools
etc.

Several days after the spraying started, in one hospital ( connected with
Stanford I think ), where there was a ward with a number of catheterized
men, some dozen or so men became seriously ill with Serratia infections,
and 2 died.  There was never a case of Serratia infection before this
time.  The military people conducting the experiment did not inform the
hospital physicians even after the men became ill! 



- Carl