Protesters outside Porton Down, Wiltshire, where the MoD carried out experiments (Picture: National Archive)

Scientists at the MoD experimented on 21,000 soldiers between 1939 and 1989.

They also releases a plague-like bacteria onto the London Underground in 1963, exposing thousands of people to the spores.

Many of the guinea pigs were military men would have volunteered for a series of experiments at Porton Down, in Wiltshire.

A new book has revealed how the servicemen and soldiers were exposed to Sarin gas, anthrax and other hazardous chemicals.


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In 1963, scientists released spores of the harmful virus Bacillus globigii on the Tube (Picture: Picture: National Archive)

Volunteers line up to be experimented on at Porton Down (Picture: National Archive)

Decades after the tests, the Government apologised and 670 of the surviving participants were awarded compensation.



Ulf Schmidt, a historian who acted as an expert witness in the Porton Down investigation has released Secret Science: A Century of Poison Warfare and Human Experiments, a book which uncovers a host of disturbing cases.

Ronald Maddison, an RAF engineer, died in fits of violent convulsions after scientists exposed him to Sarin, a gas now considered a deadly weapon by the UN.

RAF engineer Ronald Maddison, 20, died in May 1953 (Picture: National Archive)

Harry Hogg was a 20-year-old corporal when he was led into a gas chamber and exposed to toxins in the hope of testing protective clothing.

He later said: ‘It seemed like an eternity. They opened the door and we all piled out on our hands and knees, groaning moaning and crying.

‘One man was like an animal. He was trying to eat grass. He was out of his mind. What we went through was horrendous.’

Bacteria spores were unleashed at Colliers Wood (Picture: National Archive)

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