8/20/2018 Operation Whitecoat - Wikipedia

Operation Whitecoat
Operation Whitecoat was a biodefense medical research program carried
out by the United States Army at Fort Detrick, Maryland between 1954 and
1973. The program pursued medical research using volunteer enlisted
personnel who were eventually nicknamed "Whitecoats". These volunteers, all
conscientious objectors, including many members of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church, were informed of the purpose and goals of each project
before providing consent to participate in any project. The stated purpose of
the research was to defend troops and civilians against biological weapons and
it was believed that the Soviet Union was engaged in similar activities.

Although the program was discontinued in 1973, human use research for
biodefense purposes is still conducted at the U.S. Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick and at other
government and civilian research institutes. However, these post-Whitecoat
studies are often, human use challenge studies, in which a person is inoculated A Consent Statement (1955) for one
with a known pathogen to determine how effective an investigational of the Operation Whitecoat
treatment will be. experiments at Fort Detrick

Contents
History
Results
Discontinuation
Legacy
US GAO report
Possible long-term health effects
Adventists and Operation Whitecoat
Adventist view of military service
See also
Notes
External links

History
Over the course of the 19-year program, more than 2,300 U.S. Army soldiers, many of whom were trained medics,
contributed to the Whitecoat experiments by allowing themselves to be infected with bacteria (tularemia or Q fever) that
were considered likely choices for a biological attack. While some volunteered immediately after basic training for
conscientious objectors at Ft. Sam Houston, TX (before they began their medic training), the near certainty of being
assigned as a combat medic in Vietnam helped some medics choose instead to remain in the United States with the
Whitecoat program. The goal of the program was to determine dose response for these agents. The volunteers were then
treated with antibiotics to cure the infections. Some volunteers, under experimental protocol, were also given
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investigational vaccines for Q fever and tularemia, as well as for yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, hepatitis A, Yersinia pestis
(plague), and Venezuelan equine encephalitis and other diseases.[1] Some soldiers were given two weeks of leave in
exchange for being used as a test subject. These experiments took place at Fort Detrick which is a US Army research
installation in Frederick, Maryland.[2]

The volunteers were allowed to consult with outside sources, such as family and clergy members, before deciding to
participate. The participants were required to sign consent forms after discussing the risks and treatments with a medical
officer. Of the soldiers who were approached about participating, 20% declined.[3]

Results
Many of the vaccines that protect against biowarfare agents were first tested on humans in Operation Whitecoat.[4]

According to USAMRIID, the Whitecoat operation contributed to vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for yellow fever and hepatitis, and investigational drugs for Q fever, Venezuelan equine
encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, and tularemia. USAMRIID also states that Operation Whitecoat helped develop biological
safety equipment, including hooded safety cabinets, decontamination procedures, fermentors, incubators, centrifuges, and
particle sizers.[5]

Discontinuation
Operation Whitecoat came to an end in 1973 when the draft for the U.S. military ended and thus no more conscientious
objectors were to be conscripted.

Legacy

US GAO report
The United States Government Accountability Office issued a report on September 28, 1994, which stated that between
1940 and 1974, the United States Department of Defense and other national security agencies studied hundreds of
thousands of human subjects in tests and experiments involving hazardous substances.

A quotation from the study:

Many experiments that tested various biological agents on human subjects, referred to as Operation
Whitecoat, were carried out at Fort Detrick, Maryland, in the 1950s. The human subjects originally consisted
of volunteer enlisted men. However, after the enlisted men staged a sitdown strike to obtain more
information about the dangers of the biological tests, Seventh-day Adventists who were conscientious
objectors were recruited for the studies.[6]

Possible long-term health effects

No Whitecoats died during the test period.[1] The Army has addresses for only 1000 of the 2300 people known to have
volunteered.[4] Only about 500 (23%) of the Whitecoats have been surveyed, and the military chose not to fund blood
tests.[1] A handful of respondents claim to have lingering health effects,[4] and at least one subject claims to have serious
health problems as a result of the experiments.[1]

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In 2005, an assessment of health status among the Project Whitecoat research volunteers was published.[7] It reflected the
self-reported, current health status among 358 "exposed" individuals and 164 unexposed "control" subjects and found no
conclusive evidence that receipt of investigational agents was related to any adverse health outcomes. No differences in
current overall health, current exercise levels, self-reported symptoms, and self-reported medical conditions were seen
between the study groups. However, possible associations were seen between exposure to antibiotics or other biological
agents and self-reported asthma, as well as between receipt of tularemia vaccine(s) and self-reported asthma and
increased frequency/severity of headaches. The size of the study population was judged to be insufficient to assert with
confidence that the statistical associations with asthma and headaches were real.[8]

Adventists and Operation Whitecoat

Adventist view of military service

The Seventh-day Adventist Church's relationship to government military activity has been supportive but noncombative.
In 1936, the SDA Church established the Medical Cadet Corps Training Program. This allowed Adventists to remain
noncombatant but positive toward the war effort. Sabbath observance remained a concern for the drafted members of the
church. Adventist Conscientious Objector perspective differed from the National Interreligious Service Board for
Conscientious Objectors, (NISBCO). In 1967, Adventists withdrew from NISBCO because that organization opposed
conscription. According to Bull and Lockhart, Operation Whitecoat, and the earlier established Medical Corps, enabled
Adventists to participate in the armed services without violating their Sabbath principles.[9]

See also
Human experimentation in the United States
US Senate Report on chemical weapons
Project SHAD
US Biological Weapon Testing

Notes
1. "Operation Whitecoat" (https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week708/cover.html). PBS Religion & Ethics
NewsWeekly. 2003-09-24. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
2. "Hidden history of US germ testing" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/file_on_4/4701196.stm). BBC. 2006-02-
13. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
3. Stephenson, Jeffery; Arthur Anderson (2007). "Ethical and Legal Dilemmas in Biodefense Research" (http://www.bord
eninstitute.army.mil/published_volumes/biological_warfare/BW-ch24.pdf) (pdf). Retrieved 2009-04-16.
4. Snyder, David; staff researcher Bobbye Pratt (2003-05-06). "The Front Lines of Biowarfare" (http://www.ph.ucla.edu/e
pi/Bioter/frontlinesbiowarfare.html). Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
5. Linden, Caree (June 2005). "USAMRIID Celebrates 50 Years of Science" (https://web.archive.org/web/200511120705
21/http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/news/mercury/05-06/usamriid.cfm). U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of
Infectious Diseases. Archived from the original (http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/news/mercury/05-06/usamriid.cfm)
on November 12, 2005. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
6. "Staff Report prepared for the committee on veterans' affairs December 8, 1994 John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia,
Chairman" (http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/rockrep.cfm). Retrieved 2006-07-30.
7. Pittman PR, et al (2005), “An assessment of health status among medical research volunteers who served in the
Project Whitecoat program at Fort Detrick, Maryland” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15828690); Mil Med
March issue; 170(3):183-7.

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8. Pittman (2005), Op. cit.

9. Bull, Malcolm; Lockhart, Keith (2007). Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventism and the American Dream (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=ACUBSUGQCMYC&pg=PA188&dq=%22operation+whitecoat%22#v=onepage&q=%
22operation%20whitecoat%22&f=false) (2nd ed.). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-
0-253-34764-0.

External links
OPERATION WHITECOAT (2017) http://operationwhitecoatmovie.com

Adventist Volunteers Lauded on "Operation Whitecoat" Anniversary (http://news.adventist.org/data/2003/09/10655344

28/index.html.en) - Adventist News Network
O'Neal, Glenn (December 19, 2001). "The risks of Operation Whitecoat" (https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/biote
rrorism/2001-12-20-whitecoat-sidebar.htm). USA Today. (Subscription required (help)).
Linden, Caree Vander United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases celebrates 50-year
research tradition (http://www.dcmilitary.com/dcmilitary_archives/stories/030205/33582-1.shtml) March 3, 2005
"Operation Whitecoat served as a model for the ethical use of human subjects in research"
"The Operation Whitecoat Story" (http://usarmywhitecoat.com/)

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