Thanks to the release of papers from the National Archive we now know that the Ministry of Defence simulated biological attacks on the underground in the early 1960s, during the height of the cold war. And they choose the Northern line for their laboratory, using Londoners as their unsuspecting and unconsenting guinea pigs
Spores contained in a face powder tin
The test was carried out at lunchtime on 26 July 1963, the trial supervisor dropped a small face-powder tin, containing 30g of the bacterium Bacillus globigii mixed with talcum powder, from the window of a train travelling between Colliers Wood and Tooting Broadway.
They had just launched one of the largest underground dissemination trials ever, to simulate a cataclysmic event. The users of the Underground were neither informed nor asked for their consent. The people were not known to the experimenters, nor were they identified or told of the test at a later stage.
The report of the trial stated that this bacterium was “not pathogenic and does not cause food spoilage or have other undesirable properties.” At the time, the government thought that Bacillus globigii bacteria were harmless – but they are today it is regarded as a cause of food poisoning, eye infections, and even septicaemia. It is also not known whether the authorities attempted to properly test the bacterium before releasing it into the tube system.
No scientist were harmed during the secret tests
The test itself was so straightforward that no scientists were involved in carrying it out. Only London Transport workers were needed. Their job was to collect samples over the next 12 days from the air and from dust throughout the Underground. These samples were examined by researchers at the Ministry of Defence research establishment at Porton Down in Wiltshire.
Widespread Contamination
Some spores turned up as much as 10 miles north in Camden Town. The report concluded that “bacterial spores can be carried for several miles in the Tube system”, and that “trains travelling through an aerosol become heavily contaminated internally”.
Almost everywhere around London, bacterial spores could be identified, at Charing Cross, Waterloo, Elephant & Castle, Kennington, Bank, Holborn, Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road. They had travelled for miles on the Northern, Bakerloo, Piccadilly, Central and District Lines. Swabs taken four days later on five coaches the Northern Line, (all selected at random), were all found to be heavily contaminated.
A second ventilation trial was conducted in May 1964 with a view to confirming previous findings. In the repeat exercise, spores were again found to have spread rapidly, as in the first test. The results showed that had a pathogenic agent been used, then the travelling London public would have received an infective dose both at the time and for several days after the release of an agent.
When approval was given in 1963, London Transport was “concerned about a suitable cover story to allay possible public suspicion”. At Cabinet level, the Secretary of State for War (at that time, John Profumo) expressed concerns over the use of living organisms in the trials. But according to the minutes of the Biological Research Advisory Board, “the Minister was concerned solely about public reaction to tests”
The trials clearly demonstrated that Britain was highly vulnerable to such a covert strike. “The potential for clandestine biological warfare attack is considerable,” the scientists wrote at the time. In 1995 Japan, the Aum Shinrikyo cult launched a Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo underground system killing 12 people and injuring thousands more – making this nightmare a reality.
Further Reading
This was just one of over 750 secret operations, where hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens have been subject to ‘mock’ biological and chemical warfare attacks. The level of testing is revealed in research conducted by Ulf Schmidt, Professor of Modern History at the University of Kent and published in his book Secret Science.
The following video explains more about this story and explains some of the other tests that have been carried out.
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Sources
DFEE 55/165 – Exploratory ventilation trial in the London Underground railways – see here
