The Iraqi Biological Weapons Program - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 174

posal to increase the production of botulinum toxin from laboratory to
pilot scale. To this end, the takeover of a facility at Al Taji was sought.
However, before this could occur, a new director general of the MSE was
appointed in early 1987, and, according to Iraq, he considered the expan-
sion of BW activities at the MSE to be incompatible with the site and
wanted the BW group to move from his establishment. Documentary ev-
idence shows that there was indeed a transfer of the BW personnel from
the MSE to the Forensic Research Department at Al Salman in the first
half of 1987. At Al Salman the research came under the control of the
Technical Research Center (TRC), which at the time was part of the State
Security Apparatus.
Senior Iraqi officials have stated that in early 1987 there was dissat-
isfaction with progress on BW: in its two years of operation, the pro-
gram was still involved with basic laboratory research, and the promise
of weapons in five years seemed unrealistic. Accordingly, following the
transfer of staff to the TRC, the program was accelerated. Additional labo-
ratory supplies and equipment were acquired in 1987 and 1988, and new
staff were recruited. Iraq has declared that a new building to house a pi-
lot-scale fermenter and to allow other expansion was designed at the end
of 1987, and that construction of the new building at Al Salman began in
1988. The remains of such a building have been inspected by UNSCOM.
Also sometime in 1987 (Iraq has declared from mid-1987), further
development work on botulinum toxin and anthrax began. This work in-
volved production of these agents in bench-top fermenters and experi-
mentation on a range of animals, including sheep, donkeys, and mon-
keys, to study inhalation and other effects.
Another bacterial agent, Clostridium perfringens (gas gangrene), was
added to the program, probably in 1987. There is evidence to show that
work on certain fungal toxins (trichothecene mycotoxins) also began at
the end of 1987. And in May 1988 a mycologist was recruited for the de-
velopment of other fungal toxins, in particular aflatoxin.
Al Taji
According to UNMOVIC, the Al Taji facility appears to have come under
the control of the TRC in 1987. Iraq has declared that the fermenter at
that facility was refurbished and botulinum toxin produced there by the