The State - News from Sept. 26, 1988

An Army proposal to conduct research into biological warfare starting this week at the Presidio of San Francisco is being called “immoral” by an angry lawmaker who has demanded that the plan be suspended. U.S. Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-San Francisco) found out about the proposal last week and fired off angry letters urging the Defense Department to suspend the plans. “As someone who finds biological warfare absolutely immoral, I’m very disturbed,” she told the San Francisco Examiner. “The Pentagon says everything is defensive when a lot of things are offensive,” Boxer said. “The research is the same. You have to have the same organisms present to do the tests.” The Army said the program would concentrate on protecting people from infection and on developing antidotes. Boxer and others fear a repeat of a 1950 test that sent huge clouds of bacteria over San Francisco. The incident was a secret for more than 30 years until it was revealed in documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.