Chemical Defence Research Establishment

PRO, WO 33/1014, 2nd Annual Report of the Chemical Defence Research Establishment, Porton Down (1922). 

McKee, W.H.E., Woolcott, B. (1949). Report on exposures of unprotected men and rabbits to low concentrations of nerve gas vapour. PRP-143. Chemical Defence Research Establishment, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK. 

Close liaison between Porton s scientists and expert networks elsewhere in Britain and overseas, essential in maintaining a first-class research facility, was to be assured through the Chemical Warfare Committee, which was broadly representative of the wider scientific, military, and business community. To ensure the coordinated production of toxic agents, including those for testing purposes at Porton, the committee recommended the creation of a state-controlled factory for chemical warfare products at Sutton Oak, near St Helens in Lancashire, which later became the Chemical Defence Research Establishment. A representative of Porton liaised with members of the committee about planned field trials. It was this coordinated approach to chemical warfare through an external body of experts and stakeholders that other nations, the United States and Canada especially, began to emulate. 

CDRE(l) Chemical Defence Research Establishment in India... 

Callaway, S., Dimhuber, P, 1971. Estimation of the concentration of nerve agent vapour required to produce measured degrees of miosis in rabbit and human eyes Technical Paper No. 64. Chemical Defence Research Establishment Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK. 

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. 

Samples of sediment were taken with a gravity corer for analysis, four samples next to the wreck and two reference samples at a distance of one kilometre from the wreck. The sediment samples were analysed chemically for the presence of mustard agent by the National Defence Research Establishment. Mustard agent has a very low water solubility. Especially viscous mustard has a very long life in water and can remain on the seabed for a very long time after that the ammunition has corroded. 

Marzi WB (1989), Development of a new impermeable NBC protective suit for German civil defence, Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Protection Against Chemical Warfare Agents, Stockholm, Sweden 11-16 June 1989, pp. 21-24, Swedish Defence Research Establishment, UMEA. 

Bolton, T, Films, Ethics and Politics at Porton Down, 1939 to 1968 A Study of Films from the Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment, Porton Down, in Relation to Medical Research Ethics in World War Two and Cold War Contexts (University of Kent, unpubhshed MA thesis, 2004). 

Destruction of Chemical Agents at Defence Research Establishment Suffield... 

McAndless, J.M., "Project Swiftsure Final Report. Destruction Of Chemical Agent Waste At Defence Research Establishment Suffield", Suffield Special Publication No. 170, May 1995. 

FFI-rapport 2007/02405. Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Kjeller. Stern, J.E., 2000. The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (1985). In Tucker, J.B. (Ed.), Toxic Terror Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 139-157. 

Tpmes, J.Aa, Voie 0.A., Ljpnes, M., Opstad, Aa.M., Bjerkeseth, L.H., Hussain, R, Investigation and Risk Assessment of Ships Loaded With Chemical Ammunition Scuttled In Skagerrak, FFI/RAPPORT-2002/04951 Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, 2002. 

The papers contained in this Volume were presented at a meeting held at the Chemical Defence Establishment, Porton Down, Salisbury, on March 22 and 23, 1971, and which was attended by government scientists from the U.K., Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands, together with a number of academic research workers. 

Established in Manchester, Todd continued research on vitamin E and the constituents of Cannabis. He had many wartime commitments, including research on chemical defence and antimalarials, and was a member of the British team on penicillin. He was, however, able to begin the work whose ultimate objective was the synthesis of the nucleotide coenzymes, several of which are closely related to the B vitamins, and potentially leading to a study of the nucleic acids. Attention was directed initially to each of the components, the heterocyclic bases, the nucleosides, and the chemistry of phosphoric esters. This broad strategic plan,3 begun in Manchester, was continued and expanded when Todd was appointed to the Chair of Organic Chemistry in Cambridge in 1944. 

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. 

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support funding provided by the Chemical Defence Establishment, Porton Down, which included a senior research assis-tantship for Dr. R.J. Gowland under the terms of MoD Contract Number D/ER1/9/4/2081/067/CDE and by the Science and Engineering Research Council which allowed purchase and construction of atomization and milling equipment under the terms of SERC Grant Number GR/F/03028. 

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