Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility (2016)
- 4 years ago
Dr Michael Mosley investigates Britain's most secretive and controversial military research base, Porton Down, on its 100th anniversary.
He comes face to face with chemical and biological weapons old and new, reveals the truth about shocking animal and human testing, and discovers how the latest science and technology are helping to defend us against terrorist attacks and rogue nations. Contains upsetting scenes.
Read also: Porton Down: What's inside the UK's top-secret laboratory?
Inside Porton Down, the UK's top secret laboratory, scientists carry out research into chemical weapons and deadly diseases. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner was given rare access to the highly secretive facility.
Pulling on thick, protective gloves several times a day comes with unique problems, says Rory, one of the youngest scientists currently working at Porton Down.
"The one thing which I've found is definitely moisturiser comes in handy," he says.
"My desk is covered in different types of it."
Ebola, plague, anthrax
Rory works at the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), better known as Porton Down.
Based five miles (8km) outside Salisbury, in Wiltshire, it is highly secretive, under armed guard and is very hard to get into.
And for good reason.
The laboratories are where some of the country's top scientists carry out research into the world's most dangerous pathogens - diseases that can kill us.
Ebola, plague and anthrax are among the life-threatening diseases under study at this secluded base.
It's also where scientists analysed samples confirming that a Novichok nerve agent had been used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
What happened to Sergei and Yulia Skripal?
How the Skripals were saved
So what actually goes on inside Porton Down and why does it even exist?
First off, officials there are adamant about what it does not do.
Britain ended its offensive chemical and biological weapons programmes in the 1950s.
The UK has ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which obliges all 192 members to destroy their chemical weapons stockpiles.
But Porton Down does produce small amounts for research.
"To help develop effective medical counter-measures and to test systems", it says, "we produce very small quantities of chemical and biological agents.
"They are stored securely and disposed of safely when they are no longer required".
The spectre of chemical weapons has never gone away.
Chlorine, Sarin and mustard gases have all been used in Syria's civil war.
Novichok was deployed in Salisbury in 2018.
At Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017, a targeted assassination was carried out - allegedly by North Korea - using droplets of deadly VX nerve gas.
While those incidents were all deliberate, man-made attacks, there is also an ongoing threat from naturally occurring pathogens.
Read full article here: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48540653
He comes face to face with chemical and biological weapons old and new, reveals the truth about shocking animal and human testing, and discovers how the latest science and technology are helping to defend us against terrorist attacks and rogue nations. Contains upsetting scenes.
Read also: Porton Down: What's inside the UK's top-secret laboratory?
Inside Porton Down, the UK's top secret laboratory, scientists carry out research into chemical weapons and deadly diseases. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner was given rare access to the highly secretive facility.
Pulling on thick, protective gloves several times a day comes with unique problems, says Rory, one of the youngest scientists currently working at Porton Down.
"The one thing which I've found is definitely moisturiser comes in handy," he says.
"My desk is covered in different types of it."
Ebola, plague, anthrax
Rory works at the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), better known as Porton Down.
Based five miles (8km) outside Salisbury, in Wiltshire, it is highly secretive, under armed guard and is very hard to get into.
And for good reason.
The laboratories are where some of the country's top scientists carry out research into the world's most dangerous pathogens - diseases that can kill us.
Ebola, plague and anthrax are among the life-threatening diseases under study at this secluded base.
It's also where scientists analysed samples confirming that a Novichok nerve agent had been used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
What happened to Sergei and Yulia Skripal?
How the Skripals were saved
So what actually goes on inside Porton Down and why does it even exist?
First off, officials there are adamant about what it does not do.
Britain ended its offensive chemical and biological weapons programmes in the 1950s.
The UK has ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which obliges all 192 members to destroy their chemical weapons stockpiles.
But Porton Down does produce small amounts for research.
"To help develop effective medical counter-measures and to test systems", it says, "we produce very small quantities of chemical and biological agents.
"They are stored securely and disposed of safely when they are no longer required".
The spectre of chemical weapons has never gone away.
Chlorine, Sarin and mustard gases have all been used in Syria's civil war.
Novichok was deployed in Salisbury in 2018.
At Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017, a targeted assassination was carried out - allegedly by North Korea - using droplets of deadly VX nerve gas.
While those incidents were all deliberate, man-made attacks, there is also an ongoing threat from naturally occurring pathogens.
Read full article here: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48540653