The UK Biological Weapons Program - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 81

clude work of a defensive nature, nor would the need to continue re-
search on BW defence be reduced.” 139
Indeed, although there had been and would continue to be a steady in-
crease in the amount of civilian research performed at Porton, the estab-
lishment continued research in “early warning and detection devices,
physical protection, prophylaxis, therapy, decontamination and training
aids.” 140 Two years later a report on the future of Porton concluded that
the UK “should have the capability of providing for the defence of our
armed forces in the face of the existing threat of a biological attack” and
that the budget for this work “was unlikely to be affected for some years
by the current international discussions on banning the use of biological
agents.” Classified work also continued on microorganism production,
aerobiology, early warning, and outdoor trials to assess the vulnerability
of British troops to a BW attack. 141
Further Trials
Trials entered a new phase toward the end of the 1960s and into the
1970s, when assessment of risk moved away from the entire population
and became focused on naval crews. 142 It is not clear why this shift took
place, although a 1966 review of BW research noted that “the central sci-
entific staff...take the view that the present swing in the research effort
away from BW attack on the United Kingdom toward its use in small
scale operations should receive more emphasis.” 143 Additionally, there is
little doubt that senior scientists at Porton would have been aware of the
Project 112 tests being undertaken in the US (see Chapter 2). However,
only CW tests at Porton have been directly linked to Project 112. 144
Shipboard tests were initially carried out using bacteria held on mi-
crothreads in order to compare their decay rates in different parts of a
ship. 145 These trials graduated to a larger scale as a frigate, HMS Androm-
eda, was sailed through a cloud of E. coli and B. globigii. 146 In December
1970 the ship was exposed on three successive nights to clouds released
from around three miles away, remaining in the cloud for between two
and a half and eight minutes. Dosages measured in the ship were used to
estimate the dose that would have been inhaled by crew members, and
the trial report noted that the results indicated that, had the simulant