CHEMICAL WARFARE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA - RICHARD C. HARRUFF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87R00029R000400800002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 1, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

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CHEMICAL WARFARE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA -? PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS*
Richard C.' Harruff, M.D., Ph.D.
Medical Experience 1980:
I was in charge of the tuberculosis and pulmonary disease program in
Ban Vinai Camp in Northeastern Thailand from January to July of 1980. At
that time, the camp was populated by somewhere between 35 and 40,000 ilmong
refugees from Laos. New arrivals,, after traveling for a month or more from
their villages in Laos, were entering the camp at a rate of at least 1,000
per month. After crossing the Mekong River into Thailand, they were de--
tained.at the Pak Chom Holding Center for up to two weeks until being re-
leased to enter the camp where-they were first available for any s dical
examination.
During my diagnostic evaluation of patients with pulmonary disease, I
had contact with at least 50 people whose lung disease was possibly caused
by exposure to a variety of chemical weapons used in their native Laos.
Although I was primarily occupied with diagnosing and treating patients and
had little time to do a systematic study of the chemical warfare issue, I
interviewed and examined enough people who had experienced chemical attacks
so that I became! convinced of the truth of the Hmongs' allegations, which
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have been r.
Special Relief to Victims of Chemical Warfare in Thailand Refugee Camps,
Parts of this material have been previously presented in my .Era osal for
September, 1980; in an oral presentation to The Asia Society, New York,
February, 1982; or in my testimony before the Subcommittee on Asian and
Pacific Affairs, House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. House of
Representatives, March 30, 1982.
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My main reason for taking an interest in chemical warfare lung injuries
was that I had to differentiate these from tuberculosis and other infectious
diseases. Eventually "poison gas lung disease" became one of our frequent
diagnoses in the clinic at a time when U.S. officials in Bangkok and experts
elsewhere were skeptical of the Fimongs' reports.
I recognized three categories of lung disease seen in the camp asso-
ciated with exposure to chemical weapons. The most frequent type was
chronic bronchitis, which was objectively nonspecific and was treated fairly
successfully like chronic bronchitis. These patients gave histories of che-
mical exposure from 1 to 3 years prior to coming to the camp. The only un-
uusual feature of the cases in this group was that young people were present-
ing with this, which is usually.a disease of the elderly.
The second type was less frequently seen but appeared to be more speci-
fic. Initially, it was confused with tuberculosis. Patients had chronic
hemoptysis with variable amounts of blood in their sputum, which was charac-
teristically thin and bloody, in contrast to the thick, purulent and bloody
sputum of pneumonia, tuberculosis, or paragonimiasis patients. Microscopic
examination of the sputum found no evidence of infection, and antibiotic
therapy caused little improvement. Their chest X-rays were usually normal.
Along with these pulmonary symptoms, there were other systemic symptoms of
peripheral"neuropathy, nausea, vomiting, anorexia and weight loss. Males.
complained of impotence and females reported spontaneous abortions after
their exposure. These patients reported exposure to a yellow dust within
the previous 1 to 4 months. (It should be pointed out that I saw no patient
before a minimum of. I to 2 months, had passed since their exposure). Because
this hemoptysis type was quite unusual and the most dramatic, I reviewed our
clinic records to estimate how often this type was being seen. In 85 pa-
tients presenting with hemoptysis, there were 22 who had no evidence of in-
fection but gave definite histories that their problem started with exposure
to the yellow dust in Laos. The others had tuberculosis, paragonimiasis or
were undiagnosable.
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The third type was very unusual and very difficult to documen, and to
exclude other diseases. I referred to it as the congenital form. It was
seen in babies from mothers exposed during their pregnancy. These babies
were weak and lethargic, but generally well nourished. Their respiratory
effort was very poor, and they died of respiratory failure.
While talking to patients and other people, I heard many stories that
indicated that they had been exposed to a number of chemical agents. A red
gas, possibly a nerve gas, caused immediate incapacitation, rapid loss of
conciousness, and death. A yellow "drizzle,"* which sounded most like a
blister agent or vesicant, caused skin blisters and respiratory effects. A
white smoke, possibly a form of tear gas, was considered to be the most
potent because it caused burning of the eyes and respiratory tract from a
long distance. There were other stories of poison needles or darts from ex-
ploding "wonderful" dart bombs, and stories of poisoned food and water and
of toxic injections. Most of these, however, were essentially impossible to
document.
Reports of a yellow chemical indicate that it is a relatively new type
of weapon that has been used since at least 1977. Symptoms occurring after
exposure to this were described to me as follows:
1. Burning sensation of the eyes, nose, and lungs.
2. Nausea, then vomiting with blood.
*This may or may not be the agent referred to as "yellow rain", which is a
term popularized by Western journalists. The Hmong have only one term,
usually translated as "poison gas," with which they refer to all chemical
weapons.
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3. Diarrhea with blood occurring within one to several hours after
exposure. If this symptom occurred, the person would usually die
within a week. Breathing opium fumes or ingesting opium infusions
would, in some cases, lessen the symptoms and prevent death.
4. Coughing with chest pain and blood in the sputum developing within
hours after exposure. These people might die after up to several
weeks later and were probably the same type of cases, the milder
forms of which I saw in camp with hemoptysis.
5. Variable periods of unconsciousness lasting up to several days
with disorientation, dizzyness, and weakness. Occasionally
convulsions occurred:-
b. Skin contact caused blistering within a few days. The blisters
were small and multiple, scattered about the body, and the
refugees commonly described them as "scabies." Examination of
these lesions, when seen in camp at least a month after exposure,
did appear similar to scabies, but mites were rarely documented.
Long before any mention of mycotoxins had appeared,3 I felt that this
yellow agent was quite peculiar, and I made a list of the most consistently
reported characteristics of the material, which are as follows:
1. It had a relative short range effect, compared to the white smoke
agent.
2. It was not particularly rapid acting, but had major delayed
effects.
3. It had an action on the mucosae of the respiratory and gastroin-
testinal tracts, to produce bleeding.
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4. It acted on the central and peripheral nervous systems.
5. It was very toxic in water, causing death in as little as
one-half hour from vomiting and diarrhea with blood.
6. It killed children and small animals preferentially, possibly
because of a higher per weight dose or because of increased
exposure to environmental dust.
7. 'There was evidence of fetal damage with abortions and the
congenital hypoventilatory syndrome that I described above.
8. Boiling contaminated. water did not lessen its toxicity.
9. It was usually dropped from aircraft and appeared on the ground
and other objects as dry, or moist turning to dry, yellow to red
dust or particles, ranging in size up to 2-4 min, which persisted
at least 7 days.
10. Leaves of plants, especially the broad leaf types (banana and
papaya) turned dry and yellow within a few days.
Update - 1982:
I revisited Ban Vinai Camp the week of March 20-27, 1982. At this time
the population was approximately 31,000. In contrast to the situation in
1980, there were very few recent arrivals in camp and no refugees in the Pak
Chom Holding Center. Only less than 300 new refugees had entered the camp
since November of 1981, and the groups that were coming across the Mekong
River were much smaller, usually numbering less than 20.
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I interviewed representatives of most of these recently arriving
groups, and they all were familiar with the same yellow agent described in
1980. Altogether I spoke with refugees from several villages in Xiang
Khoang Province (Phu 11ak, Phu Sao, Phu Bia, Phu Kan Houa, Padong, and
Phangont) and in Vientiane Province (Ban Duon, Phouynaw, and Nang Pao) who
gave detailed accounts of many chemical attacks that occurred from 1977 to
1982. Many of the people had experienced the same symptoms as I noted in
1980. In addition to several attacks with the yellow agent, two of the
groups had experienced attacks with other agents which were described as
more incapacitating than the yellow agent, but caused similar symptoms. One
agent was a white liquid and the other was a blue-green very pungent mist.
Consistently, these recent refugees said that it was the poisonings which
made them decide to leave Laos...
Analysis of the Medical Evidence:
Many medical persons, including myself, are now convinced that the
Hmong have been subjected to repeated attacks with lethal chemical wea-
pons. However, no one has made a proper in-depth investigation of the le-
sions suspected of being caused by the agents. Initially, very few people
knew the Hmong well enough to ask particular questions regarding the re-
fugees' histories; thus, many ailments which may have been caused by poi-
soning were attributed to other, infectious, causes. Only recently have
enough medical people become sufficiently aware of the problem to consider
that poison may be contributing to or causing the diseases that they are
treating.
A major difficulty in studying the symptoms of the refugees is the long
time period between their exposure and when they are examined medically in
the Thailand camps. Those who are most severely affected either die in Laos
without any chance for post-mortem examination, or are too weak to make the
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journey to Thailand. By the time the victims are seen in Thailand, their
symptoms are resolving, and any visible lesions are too old to be very spe-
cific, especially with the crude diagnostic facilities available there.
Because of the Hmong's animistic beliefs, no autopsies have been permitted
or, to my knowledge, performed in the camp.
Few..people have tried to relate diseases of the Hmong to chemical expo-
sure. Dr. Amos Townsend is a notable exception who has examined refugees
along the Kampuchean border, as well as the Laotian border, and his conclu-
sions are essentially in agreement with my own. An independent study from
Canada also confirms these conclusions, and in addition, this study also
points out that the symptoms of the Hmong are similar to those of Stachy-
botryotoxicosis.4 Unfortunately, the United Nations Group of Experts'
initial report of November 1981, was too superficial to be very use