Chemical Defence Development

J. Davidson Pratt, Esq, OBE, MA, BSc, FIC Assistant Secretary of the Chemical Advisory and Chemical Warfare Committees, i August 1916—31 December 1918 Secretary, Chemical Warfare Committee Controller, Chemical Warfare Committee, i January 1919—30 June 1923 Controller, Chemical Warfare Research Department, i July 1923—31 December 1925 Chief Superintendent, Chemical Warfare Research Department, i January 1926—30 September 1928. Davidson Pratt was later promoted to Controller, Chemical Defence Development, in the MoS. 

Controller, Chemical Defence Development (CCDD), who reported directly to the Cabinet. 

Should the barrier presented by the secondary plant surface be breached, defence mechanisms may operate in the bark (i.e., secondary cortex and phloem) of woody plants, limiting pathogen development. These include chemical defences and structural barriers resulting from cell wall alterations... 

Director of Chemical Defence Research Development(Brit) depth charge thrower Design Dept(Brit)... 

Plants have envolved a wide array of chemical defences against pathogens. These include secondary metabolites with anti-microbial properties [57]. Some secondary metabolites are constitutively present in normally developed healthy plants, whereas others are induced by pathogen invasion [58]. The latter include phytoalexins, which are synthesized de novo after a pathogen attack [43], and phytoanticipins [59]. 

Republic of Korea Chemical Analysis Laboratory, CB Department, Agency for Defence Development 17-Nov-1998 Designated... 

Sim, V.M. (1956). Effect on pupil size of exposure to GB vapour. Porton Technical Paper 531. Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment, Directorate of Chemical Defence Research and Development, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK. 

Rebouillat el al [4] and Suzuki [5] give good reviews of activated carbon fibers. Traditionally, activated carbon granules are made by the carbonization of a product such as coconut shells, which due to their physical granular form, tend to be difficult to handle and the development of an activated woven cloth by the British Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down [6,7] via the controlled heat treatment of a woven rayon cloth offers many advantages. The activated charcoal cloth (ACC) product was made under licence in 1977, by Charcoal Cloth Ltd. One such process used a 1.8 m wide fabric, reducing to about 1.0 m at the end of the process. To aid carbonization, the cloth was treated with a solution of chemicals to confer a measure of flame retardancy. As explained in Chapter 6, there are two forms of flame retardant—one where the flame retardant acts as a catalyst and promotes removal of the —OH groups and the other form, which actually reacts with the —OH... 

Burck and Roweree suspect that the information gathered by intelligence agencies may be inherently limited. National Technical Means (NTM), which provides the bulk of their information , may monitor evidence of anti-chemical defences, exercises and delivery systems - the components of a chemical warfare capability that are the least able to be concealed from surveillance. Such evidence, insist Burck and Floweree, is not proof in itself of an offensive programme. Conversely, they contend that NTMs are much less useful in determining the purpose of research and development programmes, or the products of particular production facilities, or the secret... 

Paradoxically, the risk of chemical warfare could even be enhanced by signing the Convention, that is, if nations are lulled into a false sense of security and let their chemical defences lapse. Research and development programmes will have to be preserved to minimise the possibilities of armed forces being surprised by new forms of chemical or biological attack in future battles. Improvements in NBC equipment and training will have to be sustained to raise the demands upon any would-be violator and to offset, at least partially, the consequences of non-compliance by adversaries. Finally, these defensive measures should be complemented throughout the ten years of a Convention by the retention of a eredible deterrent to chemical attack. 

The Nasutitermitinae is a subfamily in which chemical defence mechanisms are developed to an extraordinary degree allowing dense populations to exist in many areas of the tropics. Some species are so well-protected that they are able to forage in the open air forming long trails (e.g., Hospitalitermes, Triner-vitermes - Harvester termites). 

An estimated 450 scientific experts at the Army Gas Protection Laboratory Heeresgasschutzlaboratorium) in Berlin-Spandau, officially tasked with chemical defence, synthesized thousands of chemical compounds to see whether any of them could be developed into warfare agents, performed tests on animals and humans, established collaborative networks and secret contracts with private companies, including IG Farben, conducted extensive htera-mre reviews, and secured the support of the State Patent Office, yet up until the mid 1930s no major advances had been made. In the end, the discovery of the first major new warfare agent since the First World War was largely unrelated to the allocation of government resources or to the provision of military expertise it resulted from research into new synthetic pesticides. 

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