Did US Army Dump Radioactive Dust on St. Louis?

A disturbing report written by a community college sociology professor and released last month is raising eyebrows in Washington. So far, the US Army is not responding to requests for information. Lisa Martino-Taylor researched testing that took place in a St. Louis neighborhood described by the Army as a "densely populated slum district". The testing, which involved the blowing of zinc cadmium sulfide from a Pruitt-Igoe high-rise and station wagons was described by the Army as a test of a "smoke screen" to shield St. Louis from aerial observation. In 1994, the government altered its story claiming the tests that took place in the mid-fifties and again in the sixties were part of a biological weapons program and that St. Louis was chosen for its resemblance to Russian cities that were potential targets for US weapons. The new research is raising questions about the exact nature of the fluorescent powder and its long term health impacts. Did the powder contain a radioactive isotope of cadmium or other radioisotopes mixed in the powder? Government documents show that in 1953 alone the military conducted 16 tests that involved 35 separate releases of zinc cadmium sulfide mixed with fluorescent particles so the dispersal pattern could be observed.

One person who is wondering is a woman, now 68, who lived in the mixed race neighborhood when the spraying occurred. She recalls playing in the street when low-flying planes dropped a powdery substance. She was covered in the powder and went inside to wash it off her face and arms. As a child she gave the incident little thought, but since then she has battled four types of cancer--breast, thyroid, skin and uterine. Another woman was born in the top floor apartment of the high-rise used by the Army to spew the substance into the air in 1955. Three months later her father died. Four of her eleven siblings also died relatively young of cancer.

The secret testing was exposed in 1994, and in 1997 the National Research Council concluded the tests did not expose residents to toxic amounts of the chemical. However the reviewing committee also recommended follow-up studies. Martino-Taylor thinks the follow-up testing was never done, and the Army refuses comment. She also believes based on her research that the tests were part of the Manhattan Project's research into radioactive fallout and radiological weapons, the so-called "dirty bomb". Documents show personnel links between the St. Louis chemical spraying and the atomic bomb building project. She also found the aerosol particles were milled so as to be easily absorbed into the lungs, a characteristic of weaponized aerosols. Congressional inquiry in 1993 confirmed radiological testing in Tennessee and parts of the West during the Cold War. Both Missouri senators are now asking the Army if radiological testing was involved in the St. Louis experiments.