CIA’s release of documents implicates drug industry

This is lifted straight from Peter Rost’s excellent blog – he’s said it all, I think:

CIA yesterday released some pretty amazing documents about an agency spying on everyone in a most un-american way and the New York Times wrote a front cover story with the headline Declassified CIA Archives Detail Illegal Activities.

But there was one section New York Time missed, which New Scientist picked up, and this excellent magazine writes:

“Go to page 416, and you will learn of a behavioural drug screened as part of “larger programme, in which the Agency had relations with commercial drug manufacturers, whereby they passed on drugs rejected because of unfavorable side effects”. Drugs deemed interesting were later tested on “volunteer members of the Armed forces”. The programme was apparently considered “defensive, in the sense that we would recognize certain behavior if similar materials were used against Americans”.

It’s the complicity of the pharmaceutical industry, passing on drugs known to be harmful, that I find most disturbing. Any ex-spooks or pharma executives care to comment?”

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