1966 - They Think It's All Over... (Dorset, Hampshire, Devon, etc).wmv

Extracts from the uncensored version of the declassified MRE Porton Down 'flagship film' - The Lyme Bay Trials (1966). These Biological Warfare field trials were carried out by scientists from the Microbiological Research Establishment, Porton Down, during the years 1963-1975. The field trials procedure was for a ship to spray a 'massive cross-wind line source' of two types of live bacteria (normally E.coli MRE162 - isolated from a Porton Down lavatory bowl in 1949; and, Bacillus subtilis - aka Bacillus globigii or BG). The massive bacterial clouds were carried onshore by the prevailing wind, and were sampled many tens of miles inland by mobile teams of Porton scientists. In 1999, an Independent Review commissioned by the Ministry of Defence found that a number of individuals, already suffered from an underlying illness, might have experienced adverse health effects after being exposed to the bacteria. In particular, these individuals may have suffered diseases of the chest or blood (pneumonias or sepsis) after being exposed to the E.coli MRE162. In 2007, a report produced for the US National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine stated that Bacillus subtilis (the second of the two live organisms sprayed during the Lyme Bay Trials) is now considered a human pathogen - an organism capable of causing adverse health effects to those exposed to it. In 1999, the Minister for Defence Procurement refused to rule out conducting future large-scale BW field trials, similar to the previous Lyme Bay Trials. In 2006, Dstl Porton Down revealed that although no trials had yet been conducted, the 1999 MOD statement remained official policy.
In 2009, Dstl Porton Down revealed that E.coli and Bacillus subtilis remain on their list of bacterial simulants suitable for use in open air BW field trials.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Porton Down
• E.coli
• MRE
• germ warfare
• Biological Warfare
• public experiments
• tests
• research Lyme Bay
• Lyme Bay Trials
• MOD
• Ministry of Defence
• Weymouth
• Dorset
• Portland
• Lyme Regis
• Bridport
• Salisbury