Oakland Judge Rules Only VA Can Treat Cold War Vets Harmed By Experiments

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) -- A federal judge in Oakland has ruled that Cold War military veterans who said they were harmed by government-backed chemical and biological experiments are not entitled to medical treatment outside the Department of Veterans Affair medical system.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken said the veterans failed to prove that the VA system was inadequate to properly treat them. She did order the government to keep the thousands of veterans who participated in the experiments up-to-date on any new health hazards that may surface.

Several veterans filed a federal lawsuit in 2009 alleging that the government was failing to properly treat health problems allegedly caused by the experiments.

The veterans' lawyer, Eugene Illovsky, said he's gratified that the government has a duty to keep warning the veterans of new health hazards.

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