The U.S. Army admitted spraying a cancer-causing chemical in predominantly Black neighborhoods in St. Louis, Missouri, and other cities as part of military experiments in the 1950’s and ’60s.
The chemical zinc cadmium sulfide, a toxic substance, was sprayed in the air in Black neighborhoods in St. Louis and other cities, according to documents made public in 1994.
The army admitted to spraying in Missouri, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, and the San Francisco Bay Area from 1953 into the mid-1960s.
The Army conducted the experiments using military planes, motorized blowers at schools, atop a low-income housing high-rise, and from the backs of station wagons.
Repeat exposure to zinc cadmium sulfide can harm the kidneys, bones, and respiratory tract, resulting in cancer, kidney failure, and upper respiratory inflammation.
A study commissioned by the Army in 1997 revealed that the experiments did not harm people in St. Louis, and other cities. The cancer rates in those areas did not rise significantly higher than other unaffected areas.
The Army conducted the experiments in “slum cities” to develop a chemical weapon during a time when Moscow threatened to bomb American cities. The mist was intended to confuse bombers as they flew through it.
However, people who lived in the areas when the experiments were conducted say they suspected the mist made them sick.
Survivors of the Army experiments share their stories in the documentary film, “Target: St. Louis Vol. 1.”
Director Damien D. Smith, a native of north St. Louis, said the residents of St. Louis were targeted.
“They targeted us, in my opinion. They targeted St. Louis, as something that they can do something to a population and then walk away with no follow-up,” Smith told St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy Goodwin.
“They targeted my people, they targeted my community. They targeted my parents, my grandparents, everybody who was affected by this. This is our community. And when I learned about this I was really appalled.”
Smith said the Army did not conduct follow-up studies at the time to confirm that people were not harmed in the years after inhaling the mist.
The documentary film is available to stream through the St. Louis International Film Festival website until Nov. 21.
