Archive Article: Britain’s Biological Warfare Programme. 25 July 03.
December 27, 2008

The controversy over Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction is simply the most recent in a long line of events in the troubled history of chemical and biological warfare. The world’s first anthrax bomb was invented by the British and dropped on a Scottish island. If the rest of the project had been carried out, then parts of Germany would remain contaminated to this day. The story of Britain’s anthrax experiments in World War II did not come to light until about forty years after the experiments had been conducted. To this day, there is some hesitation about visiting “Anthrax Island” off the north-west Scottish coast.

Anthrax is the best known – and probably most feared – example of biological warfare. Biological warfare is where a germ is taken out of nature and used on the enemy. The first major use of biological warfare last century was by the Japanese against the Chinese in northern China in the 1930s. The British had noted this work and decided to do their own research. With the onset of war in 1939, this work was increased.

1941 and 1942 were particularly bad for Britain and so Winston Churchill decided that desperate times required desperate measures. He was also worried that the Germans could also be developing these weapons. (As we now know the German biological warfare programme was many years behind the British one). The scientists needed an isolated island on which the conduct the experiments. The Scottish island of Gruinard was selected. The experiments were carried out in 1942 and 1943. They were brilliantly successful. Too successful, in fact. Sheep were used in the experiments and they were subject to “bombing” raids by canisters containing anthrax spores.

Unfortunately, the anthrax was even more virulent than estimated. One of the 60 contaminated sheep fell into the sea as it died. Its body floated across to the mainland village of Mungasdale. The carcass infected a dog, which then infected other animals: seven cattle, two horses, three cats and up to 50 sheep. The owner was suspicious about the activities on the island because of the speed with which the compensation was paid: “It’s not often you put in a complaint and get paid straight away”.

The British conducted other research work, not least an operation scheduled for 1945 in which anthrax would be scattered across northern Germany to wipe out the beef and dairy herds, with a view to the disease then spreading to the human population. By the time these arrangements – Operation Vegetarian – had been completed, the Allies were well on their way by land to Germany and so the operation was unnecessary.

This is just as well because the Gruinard experiments showed that the anthrax hazards were uncontrollable. Once the anthrax had been unleashed, it was impossible to predict just how much damage it would do. It was even impossible to predict for how long the anthrax would remain virulent. It is possible that if Operation Vegetarian had gone ahead, then parts of Germany would still be off-limits today because the anthrax spores can linger for years in the soil.

In 1945, when Germany was defeated, Gruinard was put off-limits to civilians. Some progress has been made in cleaning it up. But there is still some hesitation about visiting it.

Broadcast Friday 25th July 2003 on Radio 2GB’s “Brian Wilshire Programme” at 9pm