During the Cold War, the United States Army used a company, known to have been legally liable for the deaths of some of its own employees dying from radiation exposure to paints they were using as employees of United States Radium co., to spray chemical compounds on unsuspecting St. Louis and Texas residents.
Documents uncovered by independent researcher Lisa Martino-Taylor reveal the the Army tests were spraying unsuspecting St. Louis residents near the Pruitt-Igo housing complex with a cocktail of chemicals including zinc cadmium sulfide with radioactive particles, from sprayers located atop the Knights of Columbus building in downtown St. Louis... tests connected to a larger radiological testing and weapons deployment by the U.S. Army.
In the video one document includes the word "plutonium," which is only the deadliest known substances in the world.
http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1859387929001
I-Team: The Army's secret Cold War experiments on St. Louisans
7:12 AM, Sep 25, 2012 Written by leisa zigman http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/339573/3/I-Team-The-Armys-secret-Cold-War-experiments-on-St-Louisans-
By Leisa Zigman I-Team Reporter
St. Louis (KSDK) -
Lisa Martino-Taylor is a sociologist whose life's work has been to uncover details of the Army's ultra-secret military experiments carried out in St. Louis and other cities during the 1950s and 60s.
She will make her research public Tuesday, but she spoke first to the I-Team's Leisa Zigman.
The I-Team independently verified that the spraying of zinc cadmium sulfide did take place in St. Louis on thousands of unsuspecting citizens. What is unclear is whether the Army added a radioactive material to the compound as Martino-Taylor's research implies.
"The study was secretive for reason. They didn't have volunteers stepping up and saying yeah, I'll breathe zinc cadmium sulfide with radioactive particles," said Martino-Taylor.
Army archive pictures show how the tests were done in Corpus Christi, Texas in the 1960s. In Texas, planes were used to drop the chemical. But in St. Louis, the Army placed chemical sprayers on buildings and station wagons.
Documents confirmed that city officials were kept in the dark about the tests. The Cold War cover story was that the Army was testing smoke screens to protect cities from a Russian attack. The truth, according to Martino-Taylor was much more sinister. "It was pretty shocking. The level of duplicity and secrecy. Clearly they went to great lengths to deceive people," she said.
By making hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests, she uncovered once-classified documents that confirm the spraying of zinc cadmium sulfide.
..."There is a lot of evidence that shows people in St. Louis and the city, in particular minority communities, were subjected to military testing that was connected to a larger radiological weapons testing project," she said.
For the first time, she links the St. Louis testing to a company called US Radium, a company notorious for lawsuits involving radioactive contamination of its workers.
"US radium had this reputation where they had been found legally liable for producing a radioactive powdered paint that killed many young women who painted fluorescent watch tiles," said Martino-Taylor...
Click here to see Martino-Taylor's research and the unclassified government documents.
Martino-Taylor will make all of her findings public Tuesday at St. Louis Community College-Meramec campus.
Do you remember the spraying? If so, please contact Leisa Zigman at lzigman@ksdk.com.
KSDK
