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Millions were in germ war testsMuch of Britain was exposed to bacteria sprayed in secret trials

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Antony Barnett public affairs editorThe Observer Sunday 21 April 2002 1023 BSTArticle history

The Ministry of Defence turned large parts of the country into a giantlaboratory to conduct a series of secret germ warfare tests on the publicA government report just released provides for the first time acomprehensive official history of Britains biological weapons trialsbetween 1940 and 1979

Many of these tests involved releasing potentially dangerous chemicalsand micro-organisms over vast swaths of the population without thepublic being told

While details of some secret trials have emerged in recent years the 60-page report reveals new information about more than 100 covertexperiments

The report reveals that military personnel were briefed to tell anyinquisitive inquirer the trials were part of research projects into weatherand air pollution

The tests carried out by government scientists at Porton Down weredesigned to help the MoD assess Britains vulnerability if the Russianswere to have released clouds of deadly germs over the country

In most cases the trials did not use biological weapons but alternativeswhich scientists believed would mimic germ warfare and which the MoDclaimed were harmless But families in certain areas of the country whohave children with birth defects are demanding a public inquiry

One chapter of the report The Fluorescent Particle Trials reveals howbetween 1955 and 1963 planes flew from north-east England to the tip ofCornwall along the south and west coasts dropping huge amounts ofzinc cadmium sulphide on the population The chemical drifted milesinland its fluorescence allowing the spread to be monitored In anothertrial using zinc cadmium sulphide a generator was towed along a roadnear Frome in Somerset where it spewed the chemical for an hour

While the Government has insisted the chemical is safe cadmium isrecognised as a cause of lung cancer and during the Second World Warwas considered by the Allies as a chemical weapon

In another chapter Large Area Coverage Trials the MoD describes howbetween 1961 and 1968 more than a million people along the southcoast of England from Torquay to the New Forest were exposed tobacteria including ecoli and bacillus globigii which mimics anthraxThese releases came from a military ship the Icewhale anchored off theDorset coast which sprayed the micro-organisms in a five to 10-mileradius

The report also reveals details of the DICE trials in south Dorset between1971 and 1975 These involved US and UK military scientists sprayinginto the air massive quantities of serratia marcescens bacteria with ananthrax simulant and phenol

Similar bacteria were released in The Sabotage Trials between 1952and 1964 These were tests to determine the vulnerability of large

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government buildings and public transport to attack In 1956 bacteriawere released on the London Underground at lunchtime along theNorthern Line between Colliers Wood and Tooting Broadway The resultsshow that the organism dispersed about 10 miles Similar tests wereconducted in tunnels running under government buildings in Whitehall

Experiments conducted between 1964 and 1973 involved attachinggerms to the threads of spiders webs in boxes to test how the germswould survive in different environments These tests were carried out in adozen locations across the country including Londons West EndSouthampton and Swindon The report also gives details of more than adozen smaller field trials between 1968 and 1977

In recent years the MoD has commissioned two scientists to review thesafety of these tests Both reported that there was no risk to publichealth although one suggested the elderly or people suffering frombreathing illnesses may have been seriously harmed if they inhaledsufficient quantities of micro-organisms

However some families in areas which bore the brunt of the secret testsare convinced the experiments have led to their children suffering birthdefects physical handicaps and learning difficulties

David Orman an army officer from Bournemouth is demanding a publicinquiry His wife Janette was born in East Lulworth in Dorset close towhere many of the trials took place She had a miscarriage then gavebirth to a son with cerebral palsy Janettes three sisters also born in thevillage while the tests were being carried out have also given birth tochildren with unexplained problems as have a number of theirneighbours

The local health authority has denied there is a cluster but Ormanbelieves otherwise He said I am convinced something terrible hashappened The village was a close-knit community and to have so manybirth defects over such a short space of time has to be more thancoincidence

Successive governments have tried to keep details of the germ warfaretests secret While reports of a number of the trials have emerged overthe years through the Public Records Office this latest MoD document -which was released to Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker - gives thefullest official version of the biological warfare trials yet

Baker said I welcome the fact that the Government has finally releasedthis information but question why it has taken so long It is unacceptablethat the public were treated as guinea pigs without their knowledge and Iwant to be sure that the Ministry of Defences claims that these chemicalsand bacteria used were safe is true

The MoD report traces the history of the UKs research into germ warfaresince the Second World War when Porton Down produced five millioncattle cakes filled with deadly anthrax spores which would have beendropped in Germany to kill their livestock It also gives details of theinfamous anthrax experiments on Gruinard on the Scottish coast whichleft the island so contaminated it could not be inhabited until the late1980s

The report also confirms the use of anthrax and other deadly germs ontests aboard ships in the Caribbean and off the Scottish coast during the1950s The document states Tacit approval for simulant trials where thepublic might be exposed was strongly influenced by defence securityconsiderations aimed obviously at restricting public knowledge Animportant corollary to this was the need to avoid public alarm anddisquiet about the vulnerability of the civil population to BW [biologicalwarfare] attack

Sue Ellison spokeswoman for Porton Down said Independent reportsby eminent scientists have shown there was no danger to public healthfrom these releases which were carried out to protect the public

The results from these trials_ will save lives should the country or ourforces face an attack by chemical and biological weapons

Asked whether such tests are still being carried out she said It is notour policy to discuss ongoing research

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