Terrible warfare experiments exposed in our newest campaign

Porton Down, near Salisbury, is the UK site most commonly associated with warfare experiments, including those on animals. Animal Aid has discovered that thousands of animals each year are used at the site, which is shrouded in secrecy. The latest figures available, for 2017, show that 3,865 animals of various species – including monkeys, mice and pigs – were experimented upon at Porton Down.

Today, Animal Aid highlights the terrible suffering inflicted on animals during warfare experiments, through analysing some recently published work involving guinea pigs, which was conducted at Porton Down. The guinea pigs had a nerve agent called VX applied to their backs in order to see how a chemical – known as a bioscavenger – would alter the effects of VX. VX has been described as causing blurred vision, drooling, excessive sweating, eye pain, nausea and vomiting in humans at low doses. A large dose can cause fits, a loss of consciousness, paralysis and a failure to breathe, potentially leading to death.

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