A British government’s plan to fight the Nazi army with a biological weapon has ended with a small island in northwest Scotland contaminated with anthrax and closed to the public for nearly fifty years. The exact scope of the operation is a mystery to date.
Known as the “island of Anthrax” or the “island of death,” the uninhabited island of Gruinard was declared safe in 1990, but life in this bird sanctuary, less than a mile off the Scottish coast, never returned to normal. normal.
Everything happened at the end of 1941, World War II. It started in the middle of World War II. That year, facing the threat of a possible German invasion and fearing that the Nazis might have developed a biological bomb, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965) ordered scientists to consider weapons at a secret British facility called Porton Down. Take against the Germans.
After several months of research, the team at this military facility found a way to use a lethal strain of it. bacillus anthacis, Also known as anthrax to the Germans.
It was the birth of Operation Vegetarian.
If the UK dumps anthrax-contaminated feed and feed into Germany, the meat and dairy supply will be severely affected, possibly leading to a massive outbreak among the human population and a wave of panic, according to Paul Fildes, then director of biology at the UK Ministry of Defense’s secret laboratory.
Excited by the idea, British military officials were urgently trying to test the plan in 1942, but where? Aspect? It was necessary to find a remote test site in it, deserted and isolated, but accessible.
Image: GETTY IMAGES
Halfway between Gairloch and Ullapool and measuring only 2 km², the remote island of Gruinard was quickly evaluated by the Ministry of Defense in 1942.
Eventually, the authorities decided to buy the island for £500 from its owners, Molly Dunphie, and her husband, Colonel Peter Dunphie, who was a close confidant of Churchill during those war days. Thus, the beautiful and uninhabited island witnessed an attempt to develop a weapon of mass destruction.
experiment
What really happened on the island was a source of mystery and rumor until a video from the Department of Defense stopped declassification and showed more details of the experiment.
“They wanted to test the viability and effects of anthrax as a weapon,” Scottish historian Rory Scothorne told BBC News Mundo.
The Porton Down scientists collected the anthrax bombs and headed north. Once there, they transported 80 sheep to the island, which were placed back-to-back in separate boxes to receive a cloud of poisonous anthrax.
The chosen strain was so lethal that all the sheep died within 3 days.
“I saw a cloud running over the land and approaching the animals, in a row… it was anthrax,” said an eyewitness who witnessed the event in an interview done 20 years later by the BBC, now compiled for the documentary “The Mystery.” of Anthrax Island” (“The Mystery of Anthrax Island”), by John MacLaverty, BBC Scotland, for the BBC Scotland section.
Image: GETTY IMAGES
“In the experiment they found that anthrax was very effective against sheep, so it was classified as successful. But after testing they decided that anthrax would not be an effective weapon against the human population,” says Scothorne. The reason was dire: “While it could potentially be seen as an economic weapon because it affects the soil and agriculture, there were more effective biological weapons that could be used against humans.”
Anthrax is a deadly bacterium, especially if inhaled, and is fatal in almost all cases, even with medical treatment. “Bacteria form spores. If they are in the air and they get into your respiratory system when you inhale them, the tiny seeds will start to grow and form bacteria that will cause death. It’s pretty deadly,” microbiologist Clare Taylor explains to the BBC documentary.
In addition, anthrax can remain in the soil for years. “Spurs can last 40 to 50 years, but under some conditions they can even live up to 200 years later,” Taylor continues.
Results
Scientists did not calculate the extent of exposing animals to anthrax on an island so close to the Scottish coast in 1942. After several tests, they proved that much of the island’s soil was contaminated and that the pollution had reached the coast of Scotland.
Between 30 and 50 sheep, seven cows, two horses and three cats died six months after the experiment. Something the government is trying to hide.
“Them [o governo britânico] They sent agents north to analyze everything and paid compensation to the farmers, but they also had a secret story to cover up: They said the compensation came from the Greek government, as if the anthrax came from a Greek boat. Instead of saying it was an experiment by the British government, Scothorne went through and infected the area,” he says. “That way, they’re avoiding responsibility for what happened.”
In 1944, entry to the island was completely banned as it was state property. Just 24 years after the experiment, posters began to warn of the presence of anthrax.
Covered with a highly contagious strain, Gruinard Island has become one of the most dangerous places on Earth and has been placed under strict quarantine.
For generations, Highland Scots grew up in the shadow of the forbidden island, according to the documentary.
No one knew exactly what happened there, but everyone knew that it was used by the Ministry of Defense for a mysterious experiment and that they should not approach the “island of death.”
Everything was hidden from the public for decades.
The story goes public
“People knew the island was contaminated but there was no talk in the press about it. There was a moment when the government was willing to clean up the island. It was in 1971 and an investigation concluded that it was too expensive to decontaminate the island and there wasn’t enough pressure to do that,” he said. explains Scothorne.
Everything changed in 1981 when a secret group called the Dark Harvest Commandos sent handfuls of polluted soil collected in Gruinard to the Porton Down facility. In a letter to the newspapers, the group claimed responsibility, stating that there was 136 kg of soil ready to be sent to other destinations.
The scientists analyzed the terrain and confirmed that it came from the Scottish island and was contaminated with anthrax.
The group’s request was simple: they wanted Gruinard cleared.
“They wanted to expose the British government for infecting the Scottish mainland,” Scothorne said. “They exposed one of the biggest mysteries in 20th century history. They revealed that the government was testing chemical weapons on Scottish soil to be harmful to humans.”
To reinforce the seriousness of their intentions, the group sent a second package, this time to the Conservative Party convention in the city of Blackpool, north of Liverpool. This triggered national panic and the story got into the international press. However, this second pack did not contain contaminated soil, according to the analysis.
“Police pursuit of the group never led to arrests, but soon after the events the government sent scientists to the island to study the possibility that Gruinard was reincarnated by animals and humans,” the historian explains.
decontamination
Government scientists and Department of Defense officials periodically visited the island to analyze the soil between 1943 and 1981, always with the same result. There was still a deadly amount of anthrax on earth.
In the mid-1970s, a Ministry analysis concluded that any cleanup would cost tens of millions of pounds and it would be less costly to quarantine the island. But once Black Harvest got into action, it was discovered that technological advances would make it possible to clear the island for £500,000 less, and the plan went ahead.
Image: PA MEDIA
Gruinard’s soil was treated with a saline solution and the chemical compound formaldehyde. Soil samples were analyzed at Porton Down, by 24 April 1990 the island was declared anthrax-free by the Ministry of Defense.
However, Dark Harvest command came as a surprise in its latest statement, accusing it that the surveyed terrain came not from the island, but from the shore in front of the island.
“To this day, we don’t know whether the land came from the island or the coast. The scientists who analyzed it said it coincided with that of the island, but it could also be land from the coast,” says Scothorne. “We may or may not believe in the Dark Harvest. (…) To this day we do not know who the members of the Black Harvest were, and although the government itself knew, the government never analyzed the land from the coast. It was possible that the Scottish coast was contaminated.”
Rex Watson, then director of Porton Down, wrote in an internal note dated December 1981, which was declassified in 1996: “One or more anthrax clouds have reached land from shore”.
However, another Department of Defense document from May 1982 makes it clear that “analyzing the entire area that could be infected would be ridiculously expensive.”
The island’s now barren history is for many a lasting reminder of all the damage chemical and biological warfare can wreak.
– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-62363242.
source: Noticias
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