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The Fellowship of Reconciliation and five other organizations released a major report in July, "Test Tube Republic: Chemical Weapons Tests in Panama and U.S. Responsibility." The report is based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and the National Archives, and interviews with military officers, veterans and chemical weapons experts. The Panamanian Center for Research and Social Action, Greenpeace, Chemical Weapons Working Group, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund and the Center for Latin American Studies (in Panama) also participated in the study.

The United States maintained an active chemical weapons program in Panama for over 40 years, focusing on canal defense from the 1920s to 1946, and on testing munitions under tropical conditions from 1943 through the 1960s. The first chemical weapons test using live agent known to be carried out in Panama occurred in July of 1941, using soldiers from the Canal Zone. The soldiers quickly developed problems breathing, and were rushed to nearby Gorgas Hospital. One of the test subjects, Jack Cadenhead, told me that one soldier "almost choked to death." A medical aide then asked the doctor, "What's wrong with them?" And the doctor said, "It's that damn mustard gas!"

The release of "Test Tube Republic" was front-page news in Panama, where Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Arias said Panama may take its case for chemical weapons clean-up to the United Nations. Pentagon spokesmen initially scoffed at the problem, saying Panamanians "have not produced one shred of evidence" of abandoned chemical weapons. However, military agencies are quietly doing their own research about chemical munitions left in Panama and U.S. obligations.

Some 130 tests were conducted on San Jose Island in Panama from 1944 to 1947 with chemical agents including mustard gas and phosgene. One of the tests sought "to determine if any difference existed in the sensitivity of Puerto Rican and Continental U.S. troops to H [mustard] gas." Hazards from unexploded chemical rounds still remained on San Jose Island thirty years after being left there. In 1974, a workman for the island's owner was burned and requested help from the U.S. military.

When I visited San Jose Island in July, I saw remains of bombs and chemical containers scattered in fields and woods. The current owners, who have asked the U.S. State Department to conduct a review of the island for contamination, are building tourist cabins they expect to be rented by Christmas of this year. Tourists will be able to explore the island on motorbikes and carts, without supervision.

From 1953 to 1957, the United States conducted tests of mustard gas in Panama which included the detonation of chemical mines. The U.S. Army Tropic Test Center from 1964 to 1968 also conducted at least four "surveillance" tests in Panama with live nerve agent-filled warheads, which included the detonation of live VX mines. Since ten milligrams of VX agent constitutes a lethal dose, each VX mine theoretically had enough nerve agent for nearly half a million lethal doses. VX gas is the agent the United States accuses of Iraq of stockpiling.

The United States has acknowledged having buried chemical warfare agents in the Panama Canal area, but has refused to disclose to the Panamanian government a document listing suspected burial sites in Panama. The Army also denied a Freedom of Information Act request by the FOR for the document, saying it contains "information concerning weapons systems [that] could assist in the development or use of weapons of mass destruction." Despite repeated formal requests by the Panamanian government, the United States had not turned over a single document on its chemical weapons programs conducted in Panama until July, 1998, when it released to Panama copies of nerve agent test reports which the FOR's requests had surfaced.

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) requires member states that have abandoned chemical weapons on other nation states' territories to declare those weapons within thirty days of their ratification of the Convention. The United States' declaration to the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, established by the CWC, in May 1997 asserted it had not abandoned chemical weapons in other countries. In light of the apparent abandonment of chemical weapons in Panama, the United States is clearly violating the Chemical Weapons Convention. [use this last sentence as a pull quote] Panama's ratification of the Convention in July invokes new obligations for the United States to destroy chemical weapons left on San Jose Island.

[in box] CBS "Sixty Minutes" Goes to Panama

The investigative TV program "Sixty Minutes" broadcasts a report on the U.S. military's environmental record on bases and firing ranges in Panama in late September or early October. Based on interviews with survivors of explosive accidents on the U.S. ranges, U.S. and Panamanian officials, explosive experts and footage of lands in Panama contaminated with conventional and chemical munitions, the program is an important for understanding the U.S. legacy in Panama and holding Washington accountable.

The date for the program had not been set as Panamá Update went to press, but we will issue an action appeal as soon as know when it will be broadcast. We urge Panamá Update readers to contact their Congressional representatives to call for a full clean-up of explosives and other hazards left by over 60 years of military activities in Panama.

Copies of "Test Tube Republic" can be obtained for $5 from the FOR Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean, 995 Market St. #1414, San Francisco, CA 94103, or found on the Web at: http://www.nonviolence.org/for/chem-report