Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Downing also noted that two major leads were being followed up in the
US. These were quinuclidinyl benzilate (EA2277/BZ) and tetrahydro-
cannabinol (THC; one of the active ingredients of marijuana).
However, as the director of Porton, E. E. Haddon, explained to the
CDAB in May 1962, for the past five or six years the work at CDEE had
been guided by a policy directive “to study and develop means...tode-
fend ourselves against chemical warfare” (that is, a defensive program).
41
1963
In June 1963 Haddon noted that “CDEE now had a directive for
the development of incapacitating agents,”
42
and in October that the ser-
vices had formulated their requirements for the period 1964-1969.
43
A
December 1963 report on “new agent research” mentioned a develop-
ment in regard to the work on tremoram (a chemical closely related to
tremorine).
44
It stated that this compound had effects at acetylcholine re-
ceptors and discussed the structural requirements necessary for effects at
the receptor. Three Porton Technical Papers investigated these issues in
considerable detail.
45
BZ was also under consideration. While the search
for new compounds related to BZ was being left to the US, the UK was
evaluating BZ itself.
1964
At a meeting of the Advisory Council in November 1964 General
Sir John Hackett stated that “it was very desirable to find a safe incapaci-
tating agent...General Staff Targets had been issued.”
46
At the CDAB's meeting in June 1964 there was a report of the 48th
meeting of the Chemistry Committee. This stated that “there had been
five papers on new agent research relating to psychotomimetic com-
pounds and compounds acting on the central nervous system.”
47
One of
these papers dealt with the search for pharmacologically active benzimid-
azoles. These compounds were considered for possible effects on the cen-
tral nervous system, but the effects detected “were due to toxic action on
the heart” and not on the central nervous system.
48
At its meeting in October 1964 the CDAB considered the CDEE annual
report for the period ending 30 June 1964.
49
The report on new agents
stated that some 150 compounds had been screened during the year,
with some 10-15 percent of these coming from industry or universities.
More-detailed figures are also available in the fourth of the series of
Porton Technical Papers on “Biological Testing of Incapacitating Agents.”
50
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