Pruitt-Igoe Families Say U.S. Government Poisoned Black Neighborhood With Secret Chemical Fog

In the heart of St. Louis during the summer of 1953, Black families living in the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex were unknowingly made subjects of a government experiment. Children remembered running through thick chemical fog sprayed from trucks and rooftops, not knowing it contained zinc cadmium sulfide, a compound laced with cadmium, a carcinogen. James Caldwell recalled, “It stuck to you…you couldn’t even see through it; it was that thick.” To the community, the men in masks and hazmat suits were simply “maintenance workers,” though their gear betrayed otherwise.

Residents like Jacquelyn Russell and Cecil Hughes remembered the sickness. “It was such a sickening, nauseating… smell, it’s something chemical,” Russell said, while Hughes recalled, “My momma had to take me to the emergency room.” The pain only deepened decades later as residents connected the dots between those fog-filled summers and devastating health outcomes: cancers, tumors, kidney disease, and deaths that tore through families. “I lost my two older siblings to cancer,” Russell said. Phillips, another resident, explained, “I went to 10 funerals, and about seven or eight of them were cancer-related deaths.”

The Army justified the spraying as part of Cold War defense research, selecting St. Louis because of its resemblance to Moscow. But for Black residents, the reality was far harsher: “We were subjects, we were subjects,” said Ben Phillips. “My government used me like I was a Guinea pig,” Hughes added. The secrecy remains chilling — with records missing, withheld, or still classified. As Caldwell bluntly put it, “They’re waiting on all of us to die.”

Researcher Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor uncovered links between the spraying program and America’s radiological weapons development, revealing how the Army Chemical Corps used St. Louis as an “analog city” in its offensive weapons testing. Activist Erin Brockovich pointed out the larger betrayal: “It’s always the cover-up that enrages people, that hurts people. Communities can handle the truth. What they don’t handle…is the lie.”

For Black residents of Pruitt-Igoe, this was not just an experiment — it was a violation. They were poor, they were Black, and they were targeted. As Air Force veteran Chester Deanes Jr. declared, “We have died for America, we have fought for America. This whole thing is built upon hypocrisy.” Hughes gave a final warning: “It can happen to you… We were babies, kids. It can happen to you.”

Link: Fox2Now