The Lyme Bay Trials 1966

government has no legal right to test when it can directly impact on human health it is illegal



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This declassified MOD film is the uncensored version. It contains the following end-statement which the MOD, for reasons as yet unknown, removed from the version made available to the press a number of years ago. "Whilst these trials were designed for specific research purposes, they demonstrated, in a striking way, the feasibility of small scale biological warfare. An appreciable dose of viable bacteria was achieved over an area greater than 1,000 square miles by the release of only 120 gallons of suspension." During the early 1960s, scientists from the Microbiological Research Establishment Porton Down were tasked to investigate whether similar results could be obtained by using live bacteria instead of the chemical compound (ZnCds) that was used in previous experiments. According to declassified MRE Porton Down documents, South Dorset was eventually selected as the trials site because it met with three important, and still valid, requirements. (1) Lyme Bay is semi-circular (radius 25-30 miles) which allows the use of any wind direction between 070 through south to 280 degrees. (2) It has a nearby dockyard (Portland Naval Base, now Portland Port PLC) which facilitated the spray ship. (3) It is only 50 miles from the laboratories of Porton Down, which enabled overnight examination of radioactively labelled antibody samples. A suitable base for the mobile laboratory (codename Night Ferry) and control vehicle (Golden Arrow) was found at Fleet, a few miles west of Weymouth. This base was Crown Property and overlooked the main trials area, Lyme Bay. The nearby Moonfleet Hotel provided accommodation for the MRE Porton scientists. The trials procedure was for the spray ship (ETV ICEWHALE) to sail a straight line cross-wind track across Lyme Bay, all the while spraying massive amounts of two types of live bacteria from equipment mounted on its stern. The resulting massive (Porton's own description) bacterial aerosol cloud was carried onshore by the prevailing wind - where mobile teams of Porton scientists attempted to sample the cloud as it travelled up to 50 miles inland. Two types of live bacteria were released in these field trials: E coli MRE162; and, Bacillus subtilius var niger (aka Bacillus globigii or BG). MRE Porton Down obtained the Bacillus globigii from the US Army Biological Warfare Laboratory at Fort Detrick. In 2004, the US Institute of Medicine (part of the US National Academy of Sciences) identified Bacillus globigii as a human pathogen (capable of causing disease in humans). The second type of live bacteria that was used in the Lyme Bay Trials, E.coli MRE162, was isolated from a toilet bowl at Porton Down during 1949, and given the MRE culture collection number 162. An Independent Review of the possible health effects of those exposed to the bacterial aerosols found that any infections caused by the release of the massive amounts of bacteria would probably have been restricted to individuals who were particularly susceptible to disease [the very young, the old, and people with an underlying illness], and were most likely to have been chest infections (or possibly blood infections) caused by the inhalation of E.coli MRE 162. In 1971, Porton Down conducted a series of 16 joint United Kingdom/United States germ warfare field trials in Dorset. In 1975, a larger series of Dorset based collaborative UK/US germ warfare field trials was conducted. Both series of UK/US field trials involved the spraying of both live and 'inactivated' bacteria from a ship, in a manner similar to those conducted earlier. The MOD omitted to inform the author of the subsequent Independent Review, Prof Brian Spratt FRS, of the existence of the 1975 UK/US Dorset field trials. Details of these trials only came to light in 2010. During the years 1963-1975, Dorset and the surrounding countryside was subject to 113 separate 'germ warfare attacks', all of which used live bacteria (known as simulants because they were judged to be 'harmless', in comparison with real 'hot' BW agents which could not be used in populated areas). Most of these field trials were described by MRE Porton Down as being 'massive crosswind line-releases'. In 1999, the MOD stated: "You also requested information about current procedures governing open air trials in public places. In the event of a military question arising which could only be answered by conducting open air trials in areas which may involve the general public, [Government] Ministers have made it clear that they cannot rule out the need to conduct larger scale trials in the future to try to ensure the protection of the UK from attacks by peoples of states using biological or chemical weapons."