Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, or often known more simply as Porton Down, is a United Kingdom government facility for military research, including CBRN defence. 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. Research is often described as an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting and revising facts. ... CBRN is an acronym used extensively by the UK security services and the UK emergency services. ... Salisbury Cathedral by Constable. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi   - Water (%) Population... The Ministry of Defence (MOD, pronounced em-oh-dee) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ... The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is an Executive Agency of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). ...

History

Porton Down was set up to provide a proper scientific basis for the British use of chemical warfare, in response to the earlier German use of this means of war in 1915. Work at Porton started in March 1916. At the time, only a few cottages and farm buildings were scattered on the Downs at Porton and Idmiston.

Porton Down originally opened in 1916 as the Royal Engineers Experimental Station as a site for testing chemical weapons. The laboratory's remit was to conduct research and development regarding chemical weapons agents such as chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas by the British armed forces in the First World War. 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Biochemistry laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... General Name, Symbol, Number chlorine, Cl, 17 Chemical series halogens Group, Period, Block 17, 3, p Appearance yellowish green Atomic mass 35. ... Phosgene (also known as carbonyl chloride, COCl2) is a highly toxic gas or refrigerated liquid that was used as a chemical weapon in World War I. It has no color, but is detectable in air by its odor, which resembles moldy hay. ... Airborne exposure limit 0. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire The Dominion of Canada France Italy Russian Empire United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Sir Arthur Currie John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Nicholas II Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Oskar Potiorek Ä°smail Enver...

By 1918 the original two huts had become a large hutted camp with 50 officers and 1,100 other ranks. Studies in the Great War mainly concerned the dissemination of chlorine and phosgene and, later, mustard gas. By May 1917 the focus for anti-gas defence and respirator development had moved from London to Porton Down.

After the Armistice, staff at Porton Down were reduced to a skeleton level. In 1919 the War Office set up the Holland Committee to consider the future of chemical warfare and defence. By 1920, the Cabinet agreed to the Committee’s recommendation that work should continue at Porton Down and from that date a slow permanent building programme began coupled with the gradual recruitment of civilian scientists. By 1922, there were 380 servicemen, 23 scientific and technical civil servants and 25 “civilian subordinates”. By 1925 the civilian staff had doubled.

By 1926 the chemical defence aspects of Air Raid Precautions (ARP) for the civilian population was added to the Station’s responsibilities. By 1938, the international situation was such that offensive chemical warfare research and development and the production of war reserve stocks of chemical warfare agents by the chemical industry was authorised by the Cabinet. Britain had ratified the 1925 Geneva Protocol in 1930 with reservations which permitted the use of chemical warfare agents only in retaliation.

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.

Chemical warfare was not used by any nation during the Second World War but as Allied armies penetrated Germany, operational stockpiles of munitions and weapons were discovered which contained new chemical warfare agents; the highly toxic organophosphorous nerve agents, unknown to Britain and the Allies.

During the Second World War, research concentrated on chemical weapons such as nitrogen mustard, plus biological weapons including Anthrax and Botulinum toxin. In 1942, highly successful tests of an anthrax bio-weapon developed at Porton Down were held at Gruinard Island. The nitrogen mustards are cytotoxic chemotherapy agents similar to mustard gas. ... Botulin toxin or botox is the toxic compound produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Gruinard Island is a small Scottish island, located in Gruinard Bay, about halfway between Gairloch and Ullapool. ...

When the war ended, the advanced state of German technology regarding nerve agents such as Tabun, Sarin and Soman surprised the allies and they were eager to capitalise on it. Subsequent research took the newly discovered German nerve agents as a starting point, and eventually VX nerve agent was developed at Porton Down in 1952. Tabun or GA (Ethyl N,N-dimethylphosphoramidocyanidate) is an extremely toxic substance that is one of the worlds most dangerous weapons of war. ... Sarin or GB (O-Isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate) is an extremely toxic substance. ... Boiling point 198 °C (388 °F) Freezing/melting point −42 °C (−44 °F) Vapor pressure 0. ... Nerve agents (also known as nerve gases, though these chemicals are liquid at room temperature) are a class of phosphorus-containing organic chemicals (organophosphates) that disrupt the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs. ... The VX nerve agent is the most well-known of the V-series of nerve agents. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The late 1940s and early 1950s saw research and development at Porton Down aimed at providing Britain with the means to arm itself with a modern nerve agent based capability and to develop specific means of defence against these agents. In the end these aims came to nothing on the offensive side because of the decision to abandon any sort of British chemical warfare capability. On the defensive side there were years of difficult work to develop the means of prophylaxis, therapy, rapid detection and identification, decontamination and more effective protection of the body against nerve agents, capable of exerting effects through the skin, the eyes and respiratory tract.

Tests were carried out on servicemen to determine the effects of nerve agents on human subjects, 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. Maddison was taking part in sarin nerve agent toxicity tests. Sarin was dripped on to his arm and he died shortly afterwards as a result. Human experimentation involves medical experiments performed on human beings. ... Leading aircraftman Ronald George Maddison (1933?-6 May 1953) died whilst acting as a volunteer human guinea pig testing nerve agents at Porton Down in Wiltshire. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... Sarin or GB (O-Isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate) is an extremely toxic substance. ...

In the 1950s the Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment became involved with the development of CS, a riot control agent, and took an increasing role in trauma and wound ballistics work. Both these facets of Porton Down’s work had become more important because of the situation in Northern Ireland.

In 1970 the Chemical Defence Establishment became the title of the senior establishment at Porton Down and remained for the next 21 years. Preoccupation with defence against the nerve agents continued but in the 1970s and 1980s the Establishment was also concerned with studying reported chemical warfare by Iraq against Iran and against its own Kurdish population.

Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the problems increased, culminating in active operational support of British Forces in the Gulf region. After the Gulf cease-fire the establishment continued to provide technical support for the United Nations Special Commission set-up to oversee the destruction of the Iraqi capability to use nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. This continued until 1999 when Iraq withdrew co-operation from the Commission.

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 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. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterium that has developed antibiotic resistance, first to penicillin in 1947, and later to methicillin. ...

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. The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (normally known as DERA), was a part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) until July 2, 2001. ... QinetiQ (LSE: QQ.) (pronounced kĭ-nĕtĭk, as in kinetic energy) is a British defence technology company, created out of the greater part of the government agency DERA when it was split up in June 2001 (with the smaller part forming Dstl). ... The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is an Executive Agency of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). ...

In February 2006 three ex-servicemen were awarded compensation in an out of court settlement after claims they were given LSD without their consent during the 1950s. [3] For other uses, see LSD (disambiguation). ...

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.

During 2005, 21,118 procedures were undertaken which involved the use of animals [4], nearly double the number undertaken in 1997 [5]. The most commonly used animal are mice, other animals used included guinea pigs, rats, pigs, ferrets, primates and sheep. Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... Binomial name Cavia porcellus (Linnaeus, 1758) Guinea pigs (also called cavies) are rodents belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. ... Species 50 species; see text *Several subfamilies of Muroids include animals called rats. ... Species Sus barbatus Sus bucculentus Sus cebifrons Sus celebensis Sus domesticus Sus heureni Sus philippensis Sus salvanius Sus scrofa Sus timoriensis Sus verrucosus Pigs are ungulates native to Eurasia collectively grouped under the genus Sus within the Suidae family. ... Trinomial name Mustela putorius furo (Linnaeus, 1758) In general use, a ferret is a domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo), a mammal first bred from the wild European polecat or steppe polecat at least 2,500 years ago. ... Families 15, See classification A primate (L. prima, first) is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ... Species See text. ...

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. Winterbourne Gunner is a small village in the UK. It is located in Wiltshire in England about 8 miles north-east of Salisbury. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... CBRN is an acronym used extensively by the UK security services and the UK emergency services. ... The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majestys Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. ...

See also

• The United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction
• Service Volunteer Programme

The United Kingdom has a nuclear arsenal but is generally believed not to have any chemical or biological weapons. ...

External links

• University of Kent Porton Down Project
• British Ministry of Defence official Porton Down page
• Porton Down: A Brief History
• Wiltshire police Operation Antler information
• BBC News report, November 2002: Nerve gas inquest to be re-opened
• Porton Down Veterans' Support Group
• Letter from the Department of Health to Health Authorities regarding the Porton Down volunteers
• BBC News, MI6 payouts over secret LSD tests
• EyeSpy mag article on Porton Down
• BBC News - MoD pays out over nerve gas death
• Song about Porton Down