Bill focuses on U.S. Cold War tests
Health care would be given to victims of weapons tests

By ROBIN HINDERY
Article Created: 05/02/2008 08:37:35 AM PDT

California Rep. Mike Thompson on Thursday introduced a bill that would provide health care to thousands of veterans who were unknowing victims of top-secret chemical and biological weapons tests by the United States government during the Cold War.

The tests were conducted between 1963 and 1973 by the Department of Defense and other federal agencies under an umbrella program known as Project 112, which included the sub-program Project SHAD.

During these projects, military personnel and some civilians working on and around U.S. Naval vessels were exposed to a number of weapons containing chemical and biological agents, including VX and Sarin nerve gases and E. coli bacteria.

Thompson's bill, co-authored by Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana, would guarantee Project 112 veterans a "presumption of service connection," eliminating the burden of proof that normally exists when a veteran tries to demonstrate a link between his miliary service and a health condition.

Under the bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs would have to allow criteria such as dates and location of service as evidence of a connection between a veteran's service and health.

Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange are already given a presumption of service connection, and the Project 112 legislation was loosely based on that model, Thompson said.

In addition, within 180 days of passage, the measure would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to notify Project 112 veterans of their potential exposure to dangerous toxins.

Thompson, D-St. Helena, has been working on this issue for nearly a decade - first trying to get the Department of Defense to acknowledge Project 112 ever happened, and then trying to secure health care benefits for the project's victims. He estimated that more than 5,000 veterans would stand to benefit from the new legislation.

"They've been denied recognition, denied health care," he said in a telephone press conference Thursday afternoon. "They should not be neglected any longer."

"Our own government chooses to have done the (weapons) tests, but then shirks its responsibility when evidence of illness shows up," Rehberg said. "We're angered that it seems like the Department of Defense dropped the ball when it came to identifying or attempting to identify those who became ill."

Thompson and Rehberg said they were introduced to Project 112 and its fallout by residents of their congressional districts - Thompson by a veteran from Eureka, and Rehberg by a veteran from Billings, Mont. Thompson, a Vietnam veteran, represents the 1st District, which covers part of Yolo County and extends north along the coast from Napa to the Oregon border.

The bill was introduced Thursday, and will be referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Thompson said he was "cautiously optimistic" the bill would pass through both houses of Congress, though he acknowledged that similar legislation introduced in 2003 languished in the Senate until it expired at the end of last year.