41 Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

Porton Down

LOCATION Porton Down, Wiltshire, England

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Salisbury, Wiltshire

SECRECY OVERVIEW Operations classified: home of a controversial government biological and chemical research center.

One of Britain’s most secretive research sites, the laboratory at Porton Down, has been a focus of chemical and biological warfare research for almost a century. It has been accused of carrying out unauthorized experiments on servicemen, leading to an unspecified number of fatalities and claims of long-term serious medical conditions among veterans.

The First World War was the first to see widescale use of gas as an offensive weapon. Work on Britain’s chemical weapons capability began in a few scattered huts on the downs close to the quiet Wiltshire village of Porton in March 1916. Initially known as the War Department Experimental Ground, the center has undergone numerous name changes over its life, and since 2001 has been called the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Porton Down. It is ultimately answerable to the Ministry of Defence.

From the outset, the Porton Down establishment relied on volunteers from the armed services for assistance in its research. In its earliest days, the facility was principally engaged in work on chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas. While much of the early focus was on developing these offensive weapons, since the 1950s the laboratory claims to have been engaged only in research to establish the hazards of chemical warfare, in order to develop suitable defensive strategies.

However, Porton Down’s post-Second World War testing program was to culminate decades later in legal arguments over alleged unethical practices: in short, the laboratory was accused of recklessly endangering British servicemen by exposing them to highly dangerous chemical agents without their full knowledge.

Perhaps the single most infamous case concerned the death of Leading Aircraftman Ronald Maddison on May 6, 1953. Maddison, just 20 years old, had a nerve agent, Sarin, dripped onto his skin and died as a result. Maddison had been led to believe that he was taking part in an experiment to find a cure for the common cold (volunteers reportedly received a £2 fee and three days of extra leave) but a closed inquest held shortly after his death returned a verdict of “misadventure.” It was only in 2004, following a lengthy campaign by members of his family, that the inquest was reopened, this time returning a verdict of unlawful death.

Many others told similar stories of having unknown substances dripped on their arms until their skin blistered or reddened, at which point ointments were applied. Others have spoken of being herded into gas chambers. A common thread is that volunteers were not made aware of the specific risks to which they were being exposed. Many have subsequently discovered that their service records show no evidence of their ever having even been at Porton Down.

Other disturbing cases include volunteers being given the hallucinogen LSD during the 1950s, causing long-running mental problems for some. In the following decade, a vehicle left the facility and drove through local villages to the outskirts of Bristol, depositing zinc cadmium sulfide into the atmosphere as it went. It was part of an experiment to see how a germ cloud might spread, but while the scientists involved were equipped with protective suits and gas masks, the local population had no such precautions. Authorities would later insist the release represented “no danger to public health.”

PERFECT CHEMISTRY Troops modeling the latest in chemical warfare suits and hardware at Porton Down in 1988. While questions about historic conduct at the facility linger, few doubt that it has played a crucial role in protecting British forces serving in disparate theaters of war over the years.

The suspicion that Porton Down has regularly used unknowing human guinea pigs for experimentation has proved difficult to shift. In 1999, Bruce George, Chairman of the House of Commons Defence Committee, admitted the facility’s operations were “… too big for us to know… there are many things happening there that I’m not even certain Ministers are fully aware of, let alone Parliamentarians.” Yet In the period 1916–2008, more than 25,000 servicemen are thought to have undergone tests at the facility. In 2008, the Ministry of Defence paid £3 million in compensation to a group of 369 who had brought a joint action against the government, claiming that tests carried out over a period of several decades had left them with permanent health problems. Their allegations included claims of exposure to mustard gas, nerve gas and tear gas.

The Porton Down site has a footprint of 2,800 hectares (7,000 acres) and is among the most highly secure in the Ministry of Defence’s portfolio. In an age when the threat of terrorists using biological or chemical agents has never been greater, it is unlikely that the DSTL will open its doors to closer scrutiny in the near future.

1 CABINET OF CURIOSITIES Porton Down is one of a select group of institutions operating facilities with the maximum biosafety rating of 4. Researchers work at sealed, air-filtered cabinets, inserting their arms into specially fitted gloves to avoid contact with harmful elements.