The Backstory: You are part of a government experiment

Did you know there was a period of time when the U.S. government secretly used the public to test biological weapons? Some sites included rural Georgia, San Francisco Bay, and the New York City subway system. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're in New York City almost sixty years ago. Amazingly,
while the city is loaded with commuters and tourists, it's
also the backdrop for a secret military experiment. In nineteen
sixty six, the US Army carried out this covert operation
testing biological weapons on the unsuspecting public, and it all

(00:21):
took place in the city's subway system. I'm Patty Steele.
You and I are guinea pigs. Next on the backstory.
We're back with the backstory. Testing biological and bacteriological weapons
on the public was nothing new in post World War

(00:42):
Two America. The US was obsessed with staying ahead at
the Soviet Union, whether it was in space, arms development,
or something a little more sinister, biological warfare. That obsession
and fear led to some questionable decisions because they were
laser focused on understanding how biological agents might spread in

(01:03):
an enemy attack. I know it sounds like a James
Bond movie, right, but it's real. Take Operation Big Buzz
in nineteen fifty five, when the government dropped three hundred
thousand yellow fever mosquitoes over Georgia to see if they'd
survive the drop and begin biting unsuspecting folks on the ground.
In another case, a Navy ship sprayed a bacteria into

(01:25):
the air that wound up spreading inland for thirty miles
off of San Francisco Bay and sickened a lot of people.
In another a nineteen fifty three mercury with an extended
tailpipe drove eighty miles through New York City tunnels and
turnpikes in nineteen fifty six, spewing out an unknown aerosolized bacteria.

(01:47):
So imagine you live in New York City in nineteen
sixty six, when it was developing like crazy, huge numbers
of people moving in giant skyscrapers, tons of traffic, and
a jam packed transit system with subways you could barely
stuff yourself into, let alone find a seat and take
a breath. In fact, that breath you want to take

(02:08):
when you do find a seat is exactly what we're
talking about. The Cold War with Russia was in full
swing in the nineteen sixties, and the US government was
constantly freaking out about the possibility of covert attacks on
the public and also trying to figure out how to
carry out their own secret attacks on the enemy. In
June of nineteen sixty six, a six day experiment gets

(02:31):
under way that doesn't take place in a lab. They
need real world data, so instead they do it in
one of the most packed places in the US, the
New York City subway system. It was called cleverly the
New York Subway Test. Okay, a small team of Army
scientists are dressed in plain clothes so they blend in.

(02:53):
They get on the Seventh Avenue subway line in Manhattan.
Their mission release a biological agent into the subway system
and then document how it disperses. Now, in this case,
they're using a non infectious bacterium that simulates the release
of super poisonous anthrax with spores that spread the same
way anthrax does. They want to understand how easily and

(03:17):
how far a pathogen can spread in a big city.
The experiment was meant to not only understand how to
protect Americans from a biological or chemical attack, but also
how to weaponize these agents for use in war. Here's
how they did it. Scientists put light bulbs filled with
bacterial spores inside briefcases. Then, as the subway trains packed

(03:39):
with commuters sped down the tracks, they quietly dropped the
bulbs on the tracks, releasing the bacteria into the air.
The train's ventilation system, combined with the movement of the
trains and passengers, did all the work dispersing the bacteria
throughout the subway cars and stations. But it went beyond that.
The bacteria did didn't just stick around the immediate area

(04:01):
where it was released. The ventilation system and the air
currents generated by the trains carried the spores throughout the
entire subway system, reaching stations miles away from the original
release point. Scientists estimated the bacteria spread at least ten
miles across tracks, affecting a huge number of subway lines

(04:23):
and certainly millions of people. And once again, nobody riding
the subway that day had any idea what they were
exposed to. The experiment went on for days. They'd released
the bacteria at different locations and watch how far and
how quickly it traveled and how effectively it spread. In
their eyes, it was a huge success. They felt they

(04:45):
had proved that biological agents could be easily dispersed in
the subway system, affecting once again, possibly millions of people.
But what about the ethics of their little experiment. The
public was used with no consent, no w warnings, nothing,
And by the way, the bacteria they used thought to
be harmless, turned out to be dangerous for people with

(05:07):
weakened immune systems. But no follow up studies were ever
done because the whole operation remained secret for years, and
by the time it was released, all the documents had
been destroyed. It all came to light in the nineteen
seventies after a series of investigative reports, including an in
depth one by the Church of Scientology, as well as

(05:27):
from Senate hearings. That's when it all became public. We
found out that the Army had conducted hundreds of similar tests,
exposing millions of Americans unknowingly to possibly harmful biological weapons.
Folks were horrified to learn that they had been used
as guinea pigs. The government defended its actions, claiming the

(05:48):
tests were necessary to protect the country from possible biological warfare.
In the aftermath, President Richard Nixon shut down the testing
and the use of biological weapons altogether and said the
military would concentrate on defensive measures like immunization and other
safety measures. What was the results of all these secret

(06:10):
tests being made public? Well, it was definitely part of
what led folks to begin to distrust the government. In addition,
it made us all aware of just how vulnerable we
can be. Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele.

(06:34):
I would love it if you would subscribe or follow
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as alies, feel free to DM me if you have
a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's
Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis

(06:56):
Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer Doug Fraser,
our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history

(07:18):
you didn't know you needed to know.