British Sarin Tests
Nation Involved: United Kingdom
Time Period: 1950s
During the 1950s, several governments began testing chemical weapons. Many had already done this during the recent World Wars, but due to the chemical weapons of World War II, others needed to be ready. The British were ahead of most and began conducting experiments using sarin, a nerve agent. They did their tests with it at Porton Down, a noted science park. The first adverse reaction to those tests happened in February 1953 after running tests since October of 1951. An even larger severe reaction occurred in April 1953.
Out of 6 volunteers, one man was exposed to 300 milligrams of sarin and went into a coma, but recovered. That prompted a reduction in the dosage to 200 mg. That was when Royal Air Force engineer Ronald Maddison was offered money and three days’ leave from the service to help. He was told, however, that he’d be testing out a cure for the common cold. In reality, he was being exposed to 200mg of sarin. The entire experiment was to find the lethal dose of sarin, which worked. Ronald died during the experiment, which was finally ruled unlawful 51 years later!