UNODA - The Biological Weapons Convention The reading of an article - 'genetic specific' weapons systems - today's SciFi tomorrows evil.
Hallo, This thread is going about chemical warfare. Is this the same as 'biological warfare'? I have read that in 1943 young men were used as quiney pig for test? Were this test done at Porton Down? Did these men had later in live illness or other problems caused by these tests? I am interessted because my uncle was send to Porton Down. Exposed to a b.w agent (experimentaly). I found this in his service record. Greetings Tanja Hi Tanja, My father served with the 88th chemical warfare company, and is still alive 92 years of age, he was at Porton Down and exposed to gas.
Post war 1950s UK did not have any chemical stocks (apart from a bit of mustard for training purposes at Porton), although the US did. However, a small number of UK officers were trained in chemical target analysis, consistent with the UK position of reserving the right to retaliate (this training wasn't done in UK). We had 9,500 tons of mustard gas until 1958. 4,500 tons of it was converted into 10,000 1,000 bombs in 1953/54.
Hi, See RSG: Sites:RAF Portreath "RAF PORTRETH BECOMES CDE NANCEKUKE The United Kingdom's investigations into the military possibilities of organophosphorous compounds received an enormous post-war impetus from the stockpile of captured German nerve agent and research documents concerning Tabun and Sarin. Sarin was quickly identified as the most suitable agent for the UK services and by 1950 development was sufficiently advanced for limited production to begin. It was clear that the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down was unsuitable for this work due to its proximity to large centres of population and industry. A new, remote location was therefore sought and the abandoned coastal airfield at Portreath in the sparsely populated area of the Cornish peninsula was considered ideal. The site was taken over by the Ministry of Supply and renamed CDE Nancekuke. Added security was introduced with a new 9' high wire mesh perimeter fence and the closing of all approach roads. At that time there was virtually no public knowledge of the work and the non-scientific workers employed to build the plant were not told of its intended use. It was intended that the huge site, extending to several hundred acres, should initially be home to a small scale Sarin production plant under-taking process research work, but plans were already being prepared to build a vast, fully automated Sarin production and weapon-filling plant there. CDE Nancekuke began operating as a small-scale chemical agent production and research facility in 1951. CDE Nancekuke operated 3 sites: North Site, Central Site and South Site. A pilot production facility was built on North Site to support the research, development and production of a nerve agent known as Sarin "GB" and Nancekuke became the prime centre in the UK for production and storage. Production at this plant commenced in 1954 and continued until 1956. During this period it produced sufficient Sarin "GB" to prove the process and to meet the requirements for assessment trials and the testing of defensive equipment under development at Porton Down. Subsequently, international tension relaxed to the point where it was not judged necessary to proceed with a production plant and production ceased in 1956 by which time a stockpile of some 20 tons had been accumulated." This makes very interesting reading, seeing as Great Britain had declared to the world that it had no Nerve Agent manufacturing Facilities. Regards, Mick D.
Mk 1 Chemical mine found nr Norwich. http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/device_found_on_northern_distributor_road_likely_to_have_been_planted_in_preparation_for_german_invasion_1_4644007
I do find it quite amazing that nowhere in this thread is the persistence of the agent mentioned. There is a thread above describing types of chemical agent, but no mention of persistence. A persistent agent does not evaporate quickly and can go on causing casualties for quite a long time, days certainly. Mustard is one such (and caused not a few deaths in WW1 because it attacked not only the external skin, but also the lungs). Nerve gas, as far as I remember, can come in persistent and non-persistent varieties. You would use a persistent agent when you wanted to deny the enemy free use of a building or area of ground. If you were attacking you would use a non-persistent agent which would kill or incapacitate the maximum number of the enemy, but would have evaporated and dsipersed before you got there.
