Top Secrets Revealed Episode 1

During 2004, two UK television documentaries were produced which investigated the past activities of the UK Government's Biological Warfare facility at Porton Down, Wiltshire. The programmes revealed that scientists from Porton Down had used the UK as a vast outdoor laboratory during the Cold War. From 1950 to 1975, Porton scientists had clandestinely sprayed massive amounts of live bacteria (Serratia marcescens, E. coli MRE162 and Bacillus subtilis) and several tons of chemical compounds (such as Zinc Cadmium sulphide) over large parts of the UK. The first programme shows - how Royal Enfield workers in an underground factory at Westwood Quarry were repeatedly exposed to an opportunistic pathogen in the early 1950s; how members of the public travelling on a regular railway train on the Salisbury-Exeter line were sprayed with live bacteria by Porton scientists while travelling through a tunnel; how the city of Salisbury was 'attacked' during August of 1960 with large amounts of a cadmium compound: and how Porton sceintists conducted the large, and now infamous, series of experiments - known as the Lyme Bay Trials. The latter experiments exposed millions of UK residents to massive aerosols of live bacteria (E.coli and Bacillus subtilis) during the years 1963-1975. The huge bacterial clouds were sprayed from an Admiralty ship - ETV ICEWHALE - and were carried onshore by the wind and sampled by Porton scientists up to 50 miles inland. Athough this research was meant to be of a defensive nature, the official Porton film of these experiments stated: "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".


The first episode covers the years 1950-1963, and contains details of formerly classified public area BW experiments such as:

The Westwood Trials - Following the successful BW 'sabotage' attack on the Pentagon, by operatives from the Special Operation Division of Camp Detrick, the scientists from the UK Biological Warfare research facility at Porton Down decided to conduct similar experiments of their own. Unfortunately for them, they were refused permission to use Government buildings in Whitehall, London so, after a lengthy search for a suitable test location, they chose to use the highly classified underground British Museum Art Repository in Westwood Quarry, Wiltshire. During 1950-1951, scientists released large aerosols of an opportunistic pathogen in the British Museum part of the underground quarry - live Serratia marcescens (the same strain of bacteria which was used in the 1950 San Francisco experiments, and which is associated with the fatality of a hospital patient). Unfortunately, these large bacterial aerosols escaped from the BM Repository and entered the adjacent Royal Enfield underground factory. This factory was occupied at the time by over 200 workers! Needless to say, Porton scientists did not warn the factory workers of the risks - neither did they monitor the factory workers health!

The Railway Coach Trials - Yet another series of 'sabotage' experiments. This time the purpose was to investigate the feasibility of sabotage attacks on railway trains as they travelled through a tunnel. During these experiments, Porton scientists contaminated regular trains carrying members of the public as they passed through a tunnel on the Salisbury-Exeter line in the mid-fifties. The trials procedure was for a scientist to hide in a tunnel, equipped with a portable spraying apparatus. Just as the train passed, he operated the spray unit which produced a bacterial aerosol. Trials results proved that the interior of the train carriages became contaminated with the chosen bacteria. The passengers were not informed of their participation!

The BW 'Attacks' on the City of Salisbury - During 1960, an aircraft, flying an arc 40 miles upwind of Porton's nearby city of Salisbury, sprayed large quantities of a cadmium compound - Zinc Cadmium sulphide (ZnCds). This compound was carried by the wind into the city where, because of its small particle size, it was inhaled and digested by the unwitting population. Documents obtained by myself in 2001 revealed that although Porton were aware of the hazardous nature of ZnCds they never subjected it to toxicity tests prior to its release in populated areas. The population were never informed of these experiments - even the MOD commissioned Independent Review of 2000 didn't include the Salisbury experiments in any detail!