Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Poland
Extensive military research concerning BW was also carried out in Po-
land. The Central Sanitary Epidemiological Laboratory and Ninth Sani-
tary Epidemiological Laboratory of the Front were established on 8 Janu-
ary 1945, just before the end of World War II. Captain Professor Edmund
Mikulaszek was appointed the first head of this laboratory. He later be-
came head of the Department of Microbiology at the Medical Faculty
in Warsaw, and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The lab-
oratory was transferred on 10 February 1960 to the General Karol
Kaczkowski Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (MIHE). The
academic character of the MIHE is reflected in the fact that it was soon
authorized to grant Ph.D. degrees in medicine and later also to super-
vise postdoctoral studies. Early research activities were apparently fo-
cused on military hygiene, ecology, epidemiology, microbiology, toxicol-
ogy, and pharmacology. Interestingly, biological warfare against animals
and plants was assessed as being particularly relevant. Once again, there
is no evidence in the open literature even hinting at the presence of an
offensive BW program at the MIHE. Today it is located in Warsaw and
Pulawy (the Veterinary Research Center) and is involved in biological de-
fense R&D.
19
German Democratic Republic
Apparently the Soviet Union kept its extensive BW program secret even
from the GDR, economically one of the most powerful members of the
WP, despite the fact that some fermenter and dryer equipment was pro-
duced in the GDR.
20
However, whether the GDR did actually build up an
offensive BW program remains a question that cannot be answered at
present because of the inaccessibility of documentation pertaining to pos-
sible activities after World War II.
21
Most of the open literature on GDR concerns about BW was written by
scientists who were also advisors to the delegations representing the GDR
at negotiations over the BWC and the Chemical Weapons Convention
(CWC). These reports warned about possible threats due to new types of
CW (such as bioregulators) as well as developments in the area of bio-
Search WWH ::
Custom Search