Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
meeting of 11 March 1947, and allocated a budget of five million Francs
to allow “the launch of a germ warfare program.”
14
At the same time
a decision was taken to prioritize the dispersal of toxins (specifically botu-
linum toxin, which French intelligence reports claimed had been the
subject of promising work in the US, resulting in the manufacture of a
pure poison). During the initial phase, the biological agents maintained
in the scope of the French program were botulinum toxin (produced
by
Clostridium botulinum
), ricin toxin, and
Bacillus anthracis.
Beginning in
early 1948, the first trials of animal infection in enclosures, using micro-
bial aerosols, were successfully completed at Aubervilliers by the biologi-
cal division of the STA's Chemical Weapons Section.
15
Between 1948 and 1952, in the absence of an effective administrative
structure to steer the BW program, the laboratory of the biological divi-
sion of the STA's Chemical Weapons Section led the ambitious project to
test the BW data acquired by France. This undertaking, covering both of-
fensive and defensive aspects, appeared in its technical schedule to be a
continuation of interwar biological activity.
16
Research carried out be-
tween 1948 and 1953 focused on the following areas:
•
Trials on the infection of animals by microbial aerosols: experiments
showed that fine aerosolized delivery of bacteria was an excellent propa-
gator of infection, and that the pulmonary tract was the best point of en-
try into the host; that a pathogenic microbe
(Salmonella typhimurium),
when administered deep into the bronchioles and alveoli, rapidly be-
came “a pneumotropic pathogenic germ.”
17
•
Trials on animal infection through the air and dispersion on the ground
in the form of a bacterial aerosol using dried bacteria
(Salmonella
typhimurium).
18
•
Trials on animal infection through the air and dispersion on the ground
in the form of a liquid aerosol using fresh cultures
(Salmonella
typhimurium).
19
•
Trials on animal infection through the air and dispersion on the ground
in the form of a bacterial aerosol created from bacteria
(Salmonella
typhimurium)
kept in dried form and rehydrated at the moment of use.
20
•
Trials on animal infection through the air and dispersion by aircraft in
the form of a bacterial spray created from fresh cultures.
21
•
Various tests on aerial spread with dried bacteria made from fresh cul-
tures.
22
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