Porton Down

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Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, or often known more simply as Porton Down, is a United Kingdom government facility for military bio-chemical research. The complex is located near Salisbury in Wiltshire, England, and is operated by the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an Executive Agency of the MOD.

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History

It was originally set up in 1916 as the Royal Engineers Experimental Station as a site for testing chemical weapons. The laboratory's task was to research into the use of chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas by the British armed forces which were to be used in the First World War.

The CCU is sometimes confused with the Health Protection Agency Porton Down at nearby Porton Down, with which it occasionally collaborated but was not officially connected.

In the mid-1940s, work concentrated on nerve agents and tests were carried out on servicemen to determine the effects of nerve agents on humans, with one recorded death due to a nerve gas experiment. There have been persistent allegations of unethical human experimentation at Porton Down, such as those relating to the death of Leading Aircraftman Ronald Maddison, aged 20, in 1953 who thought he was taking part in trials to cure the common cold, but was subjected to the nerve agent sarin being dripped on to his sleeve and later died as a result. All of these allegations have been denied by the Ministry of Defence.

As of 2004, Wiltshire police are carrying out an investigation, Operation Antler, into these allegations; no prosecutions have yet followed from the investigations.

Most of the work carried out at Porton Down has to date remained secret, and the UK Government have been criticised for not revealing the true extent of the research that was carried out on unwitting servicemen. It is known that amongst current research at Porton is the study of MRSA and Anthrax. The facility produces a high efficacy anthrax vaccine which is sold throughout the world.

A second inquest on Ronald Maddison commenced in May 2004, after many years of lobbying by his relatives and their supporters. It later found the death of Ronald Maddison to have been unlawful [1], however this has since been challenged by the Ministry of Defence. [2]

Until 2001 Porton Down was part of the UK government's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. DERA was spilt into QinetiQ, initially a fully government owned company, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Dstl incorporates all of DERA's activities deemed unsuitable for the privatisation planned for QinetiQ, particularly Porton Down.

In February 2006 three ex-servicemen were awarded compenstation in an out of court settlement after claims they were given LSD without their consent during the 1950s. [3]

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Use of Animals

Dstl Porton Down is also involved in animal-testing, where the "three Rs" of Reduce (the number of animals used), Refine (animal procedures) and Replace (animal tests with non-animal tests) are used as the basic code of practice.

Dstl’s Biomedical Sciences department is involved in the following activities:

  • Drug evaluation and efficacy testing - toxicology, pharmacology, physiology, behavioural science, human science.
  • Trauma and surgery studies.
  • Animal breeding.

The Physical Sciences department also uses animals in its ‘Armour Physics’ research.

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Defence CBRN Centre

The Defence CBRN Centre is based at Winterbourne Gunner, south of Porton Down. It is a tri-service location, with the RAF being the lead service. There is also a police training presence at the site. It is responsible for all matters relating to CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons) warfare for the UK armed forces.

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See also

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External links

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