Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
France officially terminated all activities connected with offensive biolog-
ical armaments. The first period, from 1947 to 1956, was characterized by
a large-scale military program of biological R&D, including the establish-
ment of France's biological arms systems. The second period, from 1956
to 1972, saw budgetary redistribution in favor of nuclear armaments, rel-
egating BW to a subsidiary position. The program declined in political and
budgetary significance throughout the second period. This progressive
abandonment was interrupted only in 1963, when French government
interest in incapacitating BW briefly reinvigorated the program.
1947-1956: Development of the Program
It appears that the first steps toward, or consideration of, the resumption
of military activity in the field of BW in France took place early in 1947.
This is the date of a memo, emanating from the Bureau Scientifique de
l'Armée and addressed to the chief of staff of the Défense Nationale, Gen-
eral Juin, which stated that “biological warfare is as formidable as nuclear
warfare” and went on to recommend that “systematic studies” be under-
taken into these matters.
2
The memo proposed an initial meeting and
contained a tentative outline of a future BW program. This five-point
program proposed that, following preliminary analysis of the prevailing
situation at home and abroad, France should immediately embark upon:
•
Studies of dispersal devices (bombs, aerosols, atomizers)
•
Studies of diseases caused by exotoxins and endotoxins and of diseases
capable of being transmitted by insects
•
Studies on the detection of germs in the atmosphere
•
Studies on protection
•
Studies on biological aggression (contamination of waterways and food-
stuffs, livestock, and crops, and investigations into the possibility of us-
ing insects as a vehicle of biological warfare)
3
From the agenda for this launch meeting, which took place on 11
March 1947 at Val de Grâce military hospital, under the aegis of the Sec-
tion Armement et Etude of the Army General Staff and within the frame-
work of the activities of the Commission Médicale de Défense contre la
Guerre Moderne, it seems that the decision to reembark upon a BW pro-
gram had already been made, since “the aim of the meeting is to take
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