Mustard Gas Test Victims to Be Aided
Veterans of World War II injured in secret tests of poisonous mustard gas are able to claim compensation for an expanded list of ailments ranging from lung cancer to leukemia, the Veterans Affairs Department said Wednesday.
But a panel of scientists said the Defense Department should go much further by launching a study of any of the thousands of mustard gas victims still alive and by lifting any vow of secrecy required of the test volunteers.
“The years of silent suffering have ended for these World War II veterans who participated in secret testing during their military service,” the Veterans Affairs Department acting secretary, Anthony J. Principi, said in a statement.
Principi said the VA would offer compensation to mustard gas victims who suffer from a wide range of ailments, such as respiratory cancer, including lung and laryngeal cancer, skin cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and leukemia.
The VA had agreed in 1991 to offer compensation to mustard gas victims for laryngitis, emphysema, asthma, chronic conjunctivitis, chronic keratitis and eye ailments known as corneal opacities.
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