workingclasshistory:

On this day, 26 September 1950, a US naval ship sprayed Serratia marcescens and Bacillus globigii bacteria into the air two miles off the coast of San Francisco for six days as part of a secret experiment in biological warfare. Officials believe that they successfully exposed all of the city’s 800,000 residents. While the bacteria were thought to be harmless, 11 people checked into Stanford hospital with serious and unusual urinary tract infections, one of whom died. In later Senate subcommittee hearings the military admitted conducting open-air biological warfare tests 239 times, including in Minnesota, Key West, Panama City, on the New York subway, in Washington DC and elsewhere. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1817230781795397/?type=3