BREAKING: The U.S. Army Admitted They Secretly Sprayed a Chemical Fog in..
The United States Army has officially admitted to carrying out secret chemical tests on American citizens in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri, during the Cold War era.
The revelation, largely buried for decades, confirms that a predominantly Black neighborhood was chosen as a test site for toxic cadmium-based aerosol dispersal without the knowledge or consent of its residents.
Operation Large Area Coverage, known as Operation LAC, was conducted in the 1950s and 1960s under the pretext of simulating chemical warfare defenses.
In reality, it subjected thousands of citizens to exposure from zinc cadmium sulfide, a compound now known to contain a heavy metal linked to lung damage, kidney failure, and cancer.
According to declassified Army documents and congressional hearings, this operation involved releasing chemical clouds from planes, rooftop generators, and mobile sprayers placed throughout the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex and surrounding schools.
“The government admitted it,” said sociologist Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, who led a detailed investigation. “They sprayed a known toxic compound over families, children, and schools, without informing them, without consent, and without any subsequent medical follow-up.”
One of the test sites, the Pruitt-Igoe housing development, was home to thousands of Black families at the time. Residents later reported widespread cases of illness, including multiple forms of cancer, respiratory problems, and birth defects.
A former resident, now a grandmother, recalled playing outside as a child when a strange fog descended from above. “It coated our skin, it got in our eyes, and we had no idea what it was,” she said. “We were used as test subjects.”
CBS News documented that the Army released “hundreds of pounds” of the compound directly into low-income communities, claiming at the time that the fog was harmless. However, later health assessments challenged those claims.
The National Research Council, in a 1997 report, confirmed that the Army sprayed the chemical over “33 different urban and rural locations” across the United States, including St. Louis. However, the report also admitted that there had been no long-term health tracking of exposed populations.
“They used us because they thought we were expendable,” said one man who lived near the test site as a boy. “They thought no one would find out or care. Now we know, and it makes my blood boil.”
While cadmium sulfide was thought to be an inert tracer compound at the time, modern toxicology studies have shown that cadmium can cause significant health problems. According to the CDC, chronic exposure to cadmium can result in cancer, skeletal damage, and organ failure.
The Army justified its choice of St. Louis by noting that the city’s dense urban layout resembled Soviet industrial zones. In their eyes, St. Louis was a convenient stand-in for Moscow. But for residents, the results were all too real.
One 1975 Army memo revealed that the tests “might have had some biological effects on people,” but the military insisted on classifying the operation for national security reasons. That rationale is now being sharply criticized.
“This was a gross violation of constitutional rights,” said a legal expert who reviewed the documents. “The government experimented on its own people, targeting the poor and vulnerable, and has yet to be held accountable.”
Adding insult to injury, the residents were never informed of the spraying. To this day, no government official has issued a formal apology. There have been no reparations, no medical screenings, and no accountability.
The EPA currently classifies cadmium as a probable human carcinogen. Despite this, the Army still maintains that the amount used during the spraying was too low to cause serious harm. Critics reject that claim, citing the lack of long-term studies.
“When you disperse chemicals into the air above schools and public housing, you have a moral and legal duty to inform those affected,” said Dr. Martino-Taylor. “That never happened. It was a cover-up from day one.”
Families who lived in the sprayed zones are calling for independent health studies and congressional hearings. Many believe their cancers and chronic illnesses may be connected to the Army’s operation.
“This wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t a one-time event. It was a planned operation carried out in secrecy,” said one local pastor whose church served many affected families.
