Chlorine gas possibly used in Syria — but definitely used on people by the EPA: Another shocking human experiment

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Steve Milloy | 7 Comments

While chlorine gas may have been used as a weapon by one side or the other in Syria, it was definitely used on people by the EPA.

One of the EPA human testing subjects who came forward as a result of the media coverage of the human testing scandal reported to us that she had been exposed to chlorine gas by the EPA during an intentional exposure experiment at the EPA lab housed in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

She stated,

The next study (called “CHAPS”) I qualified for was in 2008. This title was “Respiratory effects of short-term low-level chlorine gas exposure” IRB # 05-2019. According to the consent form, the purpose of this study was “to evaluate changes in lung function and evidence of respiratory tract inflammation.” This was also a two-part, two-day study. The first day involved an EKG, bloodwork, and baseline pulmonary function tests. Next I underwent a four-hour chamber exposure to chlorine gas at 0.4ppm while exercising on and off a bike and treadmill in alternating 20-minute periods. After the exposure all pre-tests were repeated, along with a “methacholine challenge,” where I inhaled the airway constricting drug methacholine to test how my airway reacted to the drug. This completed day one. Day two involved the repeating of pulmonary function tests and labs, along with follow-up bronchoscopy. The bronchoscopy included both bronchoalveolar lavage and brush biopsy. This entire process was repeated again at least four weeks later, with exposure to chlorine or clean air. I was blinded to the study conditions. [Emphasis added]

The exposure to 0.4 ppm of chlorine gas exceeds the World Health Organization’s recommended limited for safe ambient exposure to chlorine gas (i.e., 0.034 ppm) by 11.7 times.

Evidence that EPA had indeed exposed human subjects to chlorine gas was found in at least one document on the EPA web site and is excerpted below:

More details about CHAPS and other intentional exposure experiments involving chlorine gas have been omitted or scrubbed from the EPA web site.

Given that (1) chlorine gas is hazardous to health; (2) chlorine gas is not an ambient air pollutant; and that (3) EPA has no regulatory authority over workplace exposures to chlorine, why was EPA testing chlorine gas on its human guinea pigs?