HOME





DICE Trials
The Dorset Biological Warfare Experiments were a series of experiments conducted between 1953 and 1975 to determine the extent to which a single ship or aircraft could dispense biological warfare agents over the United Kingdom. The tests were conducted by scientists from Porton Down, initially using zinc cadmium sulfide (ZnCdS) as a simulated agent. Early results showed that one aircraft flying along the coast while spraying its agent could contaminate a target over away, over an area of . This method of biological warfare–and the test method used to study it–were known as Large Area Coverage (LAC). In the early 1960s, Porton Down was asked to expand the scope of their tests to determine if using a live bacterium instead of ZnCdS would significantly alter the results. Scientists from the Microbiological Research Establishment at Porton Down selected South Dorset as the site for this next phase of testing, with ''Bacillus subtilis'' (also known as '' Bacillus globigii'', o ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Biological Agent
Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and Toxin#Biotoxins, biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,200 different kinds of potentially weaponizable bio-agents have been described and studied to date. Some biological agents have the ability to adversely affect health, human health in a variety of ways, ranging from relatively mild allergy, allergic reactions to serious medical conditions, including serious injury, as well as serious or permanent disability or death. Many of these organisms are ubiquitous in the natural environment where they are found in water, soil, plants, or animals. Bio-agents may be amenable to "weaponization" to render them easier to deploy or disseminate. Genetic engineering, Genetic modification may enhance their incapacitating or lethal properties, or render them impervious to conventional treatments or preventive ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Project SHAD
Project SHAD, an acronym for Shipboard Hazard and Defense, was part of a larger effort called Project 112, which was conducted during the 1960s. Project SHAD encompassed tests designed to identify U.S. warships' vulnerabilities to attacks with chemical agents or biological warfare agents and to develop procedures to respond to such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability. History Project SHAD was part of a larger effort by the Department of Defense called Project 112. Project 112 was a chemical and biological weapons research, development, and testing project conducted by the United States Department of Defense and CIA handled by the Deseret Test Center and United States Army Chemical Materials Agency from 1962 to 1973. The project started under John F. Kennedy's administration, and was authorized by his Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, as part of a total review of the US military. The name of the project refers to its number in the 150 review process. Mi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Operation Sea-Spray
Operation Sea-Spray was a 1950 U.S. Navy secret biological warfare experiment in which ''Serratia marcescens'' and '' Bacillus globigii'' bacteria were sprayed over the San Francisco Bay Area in California, in order to determine how vulnerable a city like San Francisco may be to a bioweapon attack. There has been speculation that the experiment may have contributed to one death and at least 10 illnesses. Military test Starting on September 20, 1950, and continuing until September 27, the U.S. Navy released the two types of bacteria from a ship off the shore of San Francisco. Based on results from monitoring equipment at 43 locations around the city, the Army determined that San Francisco had received enough of a dose for nearly all of the city's 800,000 residents to inhale at least 5,000 of the particles. This is within the range of infectivity for anthrax. Illnesses On October 11, 1950, eleven residents checked into Stanford Hospital near San Francisco with very rare, seriou ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Operation Dew
Operation Dew refers to two separate field trials conducted by the United States in the 1950s. The tests were designed to study the behavior of aerosol-released biological agents. General description Operation Dew took place from 1951 to 1952 off the southeast coast of the United States, including near Georgia, and North and South Carolina. Operation Dew consisted of two sets of trials, Dew I and Dew II. The tests involved the release of 250 pounds (110 kg) of fluorescent particles from a minesweeper off the coast. Operation Dew I was described in a U.S. Army report known as "Dugway Special Report 162", dated August 1, 1952. The purpose of Operation Dew was to study the behavior of aerosol-released biological agents.Croddy, Eric, et al. ''Chemical and Biological Warfare: A Comprehensive Survey for the Concerned Citizen'',Google Books, Springer, 2002, p. 231, (). Dew I Operation Dew I consisted of five separate trials from March 26, 1952, until April 21, 1952, that were design ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Operation Cauldron
Operation Cauldron was a series of secret biological warfare trials undertaken by the British government in 1952. Scientists from Porton Down and the Royal Navy were involved in releasing biological agents, including pneumonic and bubonic plague, brucellosis and tularaemia and testing the effects of the agents on caged monkeys and guinea pigs. While the tests were carried out by Britain, the tests were a joint Anglo-US-Canadian operation, with a US Navy Lieutenant Commander taking part. US documents showed that the operation was not purely defensive, as later claimed; at a joint 1958 conference in Canada the US chemical corps minuted "it was agreed ... studies should be continued on aerosols ... all three countries should concentrate on the search for incapacitating and new-type lethal agents". The tests The experiments were carried out at sea, off the coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, aboard a floating pontoon, supported by the ship ''Ben Lomond''. The test a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Health In The United Kingdom
Health in the United Kingdom refers to the overall health of the population of the United Kingdom. This includes overall trends such as life expectancy and mortality rates, mental health of the population and the suicide rate, smoking rates, alcohol consumption, prevalence of diseases within the population and obesity in the United Kingdom. Three of these – smoking rates, alcohol consumption and obesity – were above the OECD average in 2015. Life expectancy in the country consistently rose from the 18th century onward, but the rate of increase slowed from 2011 and stagnated in 2018. Social trends such as obesity rates within the country have consistently risen since the 1970s, while smoking rates have consistently decreased since then. Health status The Nuffield Trust and the Association for Young People's Health produced a report on the health of young people in February 2019, comparing the UK with 18 other similar European countries. They found that the UK had the highe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

European Centre For Disease Prevention And Control
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is an agency of the European Union (EU) whose mission is to strengthen Europe's defences against infectious diseases. It covers a wide spectrum of activities, such as: surveillance, epidemic intelligence, response, scientific advice, microbiology, preparedness, public health training, international relations, health communication, and the scientific journal ''Eurosurveillance''. The centre was established in 2004 and is headquartered in Solna Municipality, Solna, Sweden. Legal basis The ECDC was established bRegulation (EC) No 851/2004 deriving its legal basis from Articles 251(2) and 152(4) TEC, which together allow the European Commission to submit proposals for regulations seeking to achieve the EU's objectives of ensuring public health. History and operations As EU economic integration and open frontiers increased, cooperation on public health issues became more important. While the idea of creating a European ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dugway Proving Ground
Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a United States Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons, located about southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah and south of the Utah Test and Training Range. Location Dugway Proving Ground is located about southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in southern Tooele County and just north of Juab County. It encompasses of the Great Salt Lake Desert, an area the size of the state of Rhode Island, and is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges. It had a resident population of 342 as of the 2020 United States Census, all of whom lived in the community of Dugway, Utah, at its extreme eastern end. It is south of the Utah Test and Training Range and together they form the largest block of overland contiguous special use airspace measured from surface or near surface within the continental U.S.(). The transcontinental Lincoln Highway passed through the present site of the Dugway Proving Ground, and is the only sec ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Biological Weapons Convention
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans Biological weapons, biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use. The treaty's full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction. Having entered into force on 26 March 1975, the BWC was the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban the production of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The convention is of unlimited duration. As of May 2025, List of parties to the Biological Weapons Convention, 189 states have become party to the treaty. Four additional states have signed but not ratified the treaty, and another four states have neither signed nor acceded to the treaty.Report on universalization activities, 2019 Meeting of States Parties t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Anthrax Weaponization
Anthrax weaponization is the development and deployment of the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis'' or, more commonly, its spore (referred to as anthrax), as a Biological agent, biological weapon. As a biological weapon, anthrax has been used in Biological warfare, biowarfare and bioterrorism since 1914. However, in 1975, the Biological Weapons Convention prohibited the "development, production and stockpiling" of biological weapons. It has since been used in bioterrorism. Anthrax spores can cause infection from inhalation, skin contact, ingestion or injection and when untreated can lead to death. Likely delivery methods of weaponized anthrax include aerial dispersal or dispersal through livestock. Notable bioterrorism uses include the 2001 anthrax attacks and an incident in 1993 by the Aum Shinrikyo group in Japan. Biological overview Concentrated anthrax spores, and not necessarily the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis'', pose the biggest risk as a biological weapons to humans. When ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Human Pathogen
A human pathogen is a pathogen (microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus) that causes disease in humans. The human physiological defense against common pathogens (such as ''Pneumocystis'') is mainly the responsibility of the immune system with help by some of the body's normal microbiota. However, if the immune system or "good" microbiota are damaged in any way (such as by chemotherapy, human immunodeficiency virus The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of th ... (HIV), or antibiotics being taken to kill other pathogens), pathogenic bacteria that were being held at bay can proliferate and cause harm to the host. Such cases are called opportunistic infections. Some pathogens (such as the bacterium ''Yersinia pestis'', which may have caused the Black P ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]