The Chemists’ War

From fire to nuclear energy our science and technology have dual usage. " I am become death. The shatterer of worlds" J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting from Hindu scripture after the Project Trinity atomic bomb test. He was the scientific lead of the Manhattan Project. We are biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit primate apes who appeared in Africa 300,000 years ago. We are programmed by our nature and nurture to crave fat, salt, sugar, habitat, water, kin and sex by any means necessary. Including conflict and cooperation. MAGA?

As I read this most interesting article I couldn’t help but recall a “wags” comments as “Gift’s that keep on giving”.

World War I is almost synonymous with chemical warfare. Although the majority of soldiers killed or wounded were the result of artillery fire, the use of poisonous gas left an indelible mark on the conflict. Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” graphically paints a horrendous image. Mr Emery may be relating ancient history to most of his readers, but the relationship between science and war remains relevant today. What is often justified by the exigencies of combat can have horrible unintended consequences. Fritz Haber, a German chemist, is often called the father of chemical warfare. It was his research, Haber-Bosch process, that helped to make fertilizer as well as bombs. He turned chlorine into a weapon that Germany used at Ypres. One war later, the Nazis would use this early experimentation to execute millions. Ironically, Haber was Jewish. Albert Einstein, Haber’s friend, was disappointed with chemist’s role. Later, Einstein himself would regret his own contribution to the development of the atomic bomb. There is an old saying about a two edged sword. Science and the military qualify for this depiction.

There’s nothing quite like the hubris of man. It’s probably for the best that we don’t seem to know for sure how many “broken arrow” incidents have actually occurred.

Many of those top university scientists were "bought" with officer commissions and their associated pensions. One of those was James Conant, who reached the rank of Major in 9 mos of service, later worked on nuclear weapons, and was president of Harvard. World War I, in many ways, marked the beginning of rampant conflicts of interest in university science.

In 1972, I took the U.S. Navy Damage Control Assistant (DCA) course. During the course I watched film of the U.S. Army LSD experiments on its troops. A couple of years later, while a Nuclear Weapons Orientatation course student, I watched hours of video of U.S. nuclear bomb tests. I have also seen video of mustard gas tests on our service members. The common element of these tests and the use of agent orange in the Viet Nam war? A shamefully callouse disregard for the effects upon our service members.

That horrifying photograph of that man’s arm points to something barely touched in the text of the article: How soldiers were forced to be human guinea pigs for chemical warfare research.

A very interesting article. For a more in depth look at the environmental and public health history of the construction of the Edgewood Arsenal in 1917-1918, you might check out Gerard J. Fitzgerald's “The Chemist’s War: Edgewood Arsenal, World War I, and the Birth of a Militarized Landscape,” that was just published as a chapter in a brand new book from Cambridge University Press entitled "Environmental Histories of the First World War." The chapter deals with various World War I environmental issues including groundwater contamination and the environmental hazards of mustard gas production.

The US military is still the largest polluter in the world and they are making little progress in cleaning up hundreds of contaminated sites. Google "federal facilities" and Superfund and State cleanup programs.

Ironic how the technologies developed in WWI may have given the Nazis the initiative and confidence to start WWII.

Did the author check into the contamination on the grounds of American University? Apparently there were several areas contaminated. Any information about the campus?

"The army has carted off thousands of tons of [arsenic]-tainted soil..." Carted off -- where? "Away." Oh. But surely we have only one planet, and there IS no "away". What arrangement of the deck-chairs on this particular TITANIC have our masters approved? What is done with the contaminants? Where is journalistic enquiry?