Biological warfare research

Harris, S.H. (1992). Japanese biological warfare research on humans a case study of microbiology and ethics. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 666 21-52. 

Hugh-Jones, M. (1992). Wickham Steed and German biological warfare research. Intell. Natl Secur. 1 379-402. 

Smart, J.K. (2004). History notes chemical and biological warfare research and development during the Civil War. CBIAC Newsletter 5(2) 3, 11-15. 

Two weeks after receiving Stimson s letter, on 15 May, Roosevelt gave his approval to the creation of a biological warfare research organization. The following month, Sdmson appointed George W. Merck as Director of the War Research Service. 

The war-strained British economy could probably never have withstood the massive investment in raw materials and scientific skill that a full-scale biological weapons programme would have entailed. The American economy could. Between 1942 and March 1945 the U S invested over 40,000,000 in plant and equipment. Almost 4,000 people were eventually employed in biological warfare research, testing and production. 

In the early days after the Second World War it was extremely difficult for the British or Americans to check many of the astonishing claims they came upon in the captured German files. They concluded, however, that there was more than adequate evidence that the Soviet Union had been, and was still, engaged in some form of biological warfare research. Although little was known of the nature of contemporary work, it was thought that the Russians maintained some six sites for biological warfare research, most of them in the Urals. 

Cochrane RC. Biological Warfare Research in the United States. Office of Chief, Chemical Corps Historical Section, Plans, Training and Intelligence Division 1947. Draft. 

In April 1942, Stimson recommended to President Franklin D. Roosevelt the creation of a civilian advisory group that would coordinate governmental and privately owned institutions in a biological warfare effort.2,3 (What he did not tell Roosevelt was that the Army Chemical Warfare Service had begun its own biological warfare research in 1941.)... 

In January 1946, the War Department made public for the first time the fact that the United States had been conducting biological warfare research and testing. The press release emphasized the high priority placed on safety ... 

The biological warfare research facilities at Camp Detrick were expanded, and a biological warfare production facility was created at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, in 1951. The first limited, biological warfare retaliatory capability was achieved when an anticrop bomb was developed, tested, and placed in production for the U.S. Air Force. Anticrop-agent production sites were carefully selected for safety with the coordination and approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This marked the first peacetime biological weapons production by the United States.11... 

Even though the United States stopped all offensive biological warfare research in 1969, the Biological Defense Research Program must remain strong... 

M. Hugh-Jones, Wickham Steed and German Biological Warfare Research , Intelligence and National Security, vol.7, no.4 (1992), pp.379-402 see also the reports in Committee of Imperial Defence Sub-Committee on Bacteriological Warfare, 1936-8, PRO, CAB 16/166 and CAB 16/167. 

HUGH-JONES, M., Wickham Steed and German Biological Warfare Research , Intelligence and National Security, vol.7, no.4, 1992. 

TNA, DEFE13/287, Biological Warfare. Research and Development, Summary of Report on Operations Hesperus, 1953, and Ozone, 1954 . 

In the process of CWS expansion gray areas of mission responsibility were clearly defined, much of this work done under the direction of Maj. Gen. William N. Porter who became Chief, Chemical Warfare Service, in May 1941. This effort to define responsibilities resulted in expanded duties for the CWS, for example, development of a high explosive shell for the 4.2-inch mortar and the acquisition of complete responsibility for the incendiary bomb program. In 1941 the War Department gave the CWS the mission of biological warfare research. 

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