-Caveat Lector-
"A number of tests used the "microthread technique" where bacteria were
attached to the threads of a spider's web." (Sound familiar? -- SW)
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date sent: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 12:37:05 EST
Subject: SNET: UK: Everyone is Sick
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Thanks Harry, for the following articles. The first sounds very much
like what is occurring today.
From the Scottsman Newspaper
Health risks of secret UK germ warfare tests revealed
SEVERIN CARRELL Political Correspondent
VULNERABLE civilians suffering from breathing illnesses may have been
seriously harmed by
secret biological warfare tests by British military scientists, a
Government-sponsored inquiry has
revealed.
A report released by the Ministry of Defence yesterday confirms that an
unknown number of
people suffering from breathing illnesses, particularly the elderly and
children, could have been
directly affected when scientists covered large areas of south-west
England with harmful
bacteria in the 1960s and 1970s.
The independent study by Professor Brian Spratt, a leading
epidemiologist at Oxford University,
dismisses fears that the secret trials caused miscarriages or serious
long-term illnesses.
However, Prof Spratt's report raises serious questions about the
conduct of scientists at the
secret biological and chemical warfare establishment at Porton Down in
Wiltshire, and their
failure to assess the likely affects of the tests on civilians.
The disclosure of the secret tests came after intense pressure from
local campaigners.
The MoD promised yesterday that the findings would now be followed with
another
independent investigation into the health effects of other secret tests
across England using the
potentially toxic chemical zinc cadmium sulphide.
Prof Spratt's report focuses on a series of tests by Porton Down on the
transmission of
biological agents released by sprays from aircraft and ships in Dorset
and east Devon.
A number of tests used the "microthread technique" where bacteria were
attached to the threads
of a spider's web.
Prof Spratt said the spiders' thread tests "posed no conceivable threat
to human health", but he
added that the other trials "did expose a large number of people to
clouds of bacteria that would
have been breathed into the lungs".
Health risks of secret UK germ warfare tests revealed
These trials, carried out between 1961 and 1976 to simulate the likely
effects of biological attack
on the UK by the Soviet Union, included releases from ships anchored
off Dorset and by
large-scale releases from aeroplanes of four different species of
bacteria, including a common
strain of E coli.
In one trial, Porton Down scientists set up at least 60 testing
stations in Devon, Dorset and
Hampshire after spraying the bacteria in two "arcs" which were 150
miles in length and stretched
up to 30 miles inland. The affected areas included Totnes, and parts of
Poole, Bournemouth,
Weymouth and Torquay. In the largest releases, people in the open air
would have breathed in
up to 50,000 bacteria spores each, but some people could have inhaled
much larger amounts,
depending on local conditions.
Two of the bacteria, Serratia marcesens and bacterium (Klebsiella)
aerogenes, were killed before
they were released into the environment.
"Inhalation of the dead bacteria would have posed no significant threat
to health, although the
possibility of minor chest irritation in a few susceptible individuals
cannot be excluded," Prof
Spratt said.
Another bacteria, bacillus globigii, was rare and very unlikely to
cause disease. The E coli MRE
162 strain, however, could have harmed the vulnerable, he said.
Prof Spratt insisted that very few people would have inhaled a million
or more spores, and even
then that inhalation was "very unlikely" to cause disease in the vast
majority of individuals. "It
is, however, possible that inhalation of E coli MRE 162 could have
caused a lung infection in a
few individuals with underlying lung disease (eg cystic fibrosis), or a
blood infection in
individuals who were particularly susceptible to infection," he said.
Health risks of secret UK germ warfare tests revealed
He added: "Exposure to the bacterial aerosols may have caused
infections in a few highly susceptible individuals
soon after exposure, but none of the bacteria released in the Dorset
defence trials are believed to cause chronic ill
health."
The next inquiry into the zinc cadmium sulphide tests will examine
claims that hundreds of thousands of Britons
might have been harmed by the tests which covered large areas of
England.
An illegal discharge of radioactive waste from the Atomic Weapons
Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire,
was being investigated by the Environment Agency last night. It was
revealed that an isotope used in the
manufacture of Trident warheads had been dumped in a stream.
BBC NEWS, Thursday, January 14, 1999 Published at 16:23 GMT
Health
Flu kills thousands
The flu outbreak did not reach epidemic levels
The flu outbreak has contributed to a big rise in the
number of deaths in England and Wales in the first week
of the year, according to the Office for National
Statistics
(ONS).
In the week ending on 8 January, an
estimated 20,508 people died,
compared to a seasonal average of
15,000.
The ONS said the flu outbreak had
bumped up the number of deaths
from respiratory diseases, such as pneumonia.
More than 3,200 people in England died from flu and
other respiratory diseases in the first week of the year,
according to the Association for Flu Monitoring and
Surveillance (AIMS).
However, it said the flu outbreak has not hit epidemic
levels and appeared to have reached its peak.
Respiratory disease killed 3,219 people between 4 and
11 January when flu cases rose by 80% in some parts of
the country.
In the last week of December, there
were 2,183 deaths from respiratory
disease and just 1,599 died in the last
week of November.
Recorded cases of flu in the first week
of January reached 272 cases per 100,000 people,
compared to 188 cases per 100,000 in the previous
week.
However, they were still not up to the 400 cases per
100,000 which would qualify the outbreak as an
epidemic.
Not an epidemic
A spokeswoman for AIMS said: "The death rate and the
flu rate is worse than last year when it was exceptionally
mild, but in 1996 the death rate peaked at around 5,000
in one week."
She said AIMS believed the flu was following the
five-week pattern of other flu outbreaks.
This means it should have peaked last week.
"There may be another slight rise in the figures, but
hopefully this is the beginning of the end," she said.
The outbreak led to a huge surge in emergency
admissions to hospital.
Many hospitals had problems coping with the crisis
because of lack of staff and beds.
The worst hit areas were in the North and Midlands.
However, despite the annoucement that the outbreak is
easing, some areas are still experiencing problems.
Worst ever
Professor David Bennett at the intensive care unit at St
George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, said his
ward round on Thursday was the worst he had
experienced.
He told the BBC's PM programme
that his unit had admitted two
patients from a hospital in Harlow
overnight because there were no beds
there.
They had also admitted a man who had been shuttled
between two other hospitals in less than a week
because of a lack of beds.
The man was originally admitted to a hospital in Slough
where he had to have a leg amputated.
He went downhill after the operation and suffered a heart
attack.
He was then admitted to a hospital in Reading because
of a shortage of beds in Slough.
He caught a hospital bug there and was put into
isolation, but on Thursday he was transferred to St
George's because he was the least ill person in the
Reading hospital's intensive care unit.
"I feel we are not offering people the best service
available," said Dr Bennett. "If we compare ourselves
with most other developed countries, the service we give
is inferior."
He added that this was not due to the quality of staff, but
to lack of funds, nurses and beds.
The Emergency Bed Service had told him on Thursday
that the nearest additional bed was in Torbay or
Manchester.
Listening Tour
Meanwhile, Conservative leader William Hague visited St
Mary's Hospital in London on Thursday, two days after
the Prime Minister's secret trip to a different London
hospital.
His aides said the trip had been arranged weeks ago and
was part of Mr Hague's Listening Tour of the UK.
Mr Hague blamed advances in medical technology and
increased demand for the crisis in the health service.
He called for "new responses and fresh thinking" on how
to deal with it, including creative ways of using private
funding, and said neither the current or the previous
government were to blame for the current state of affairs.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Wingate
California Director
SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL
THIS WEEK'S MP3: "MJ3", by Ray Palfreyman
http://www.mp3.com/music/Jazz/8321.html
TODAY'S MIDI
http://www.anomalous-images.com/whale.mid
ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES
http://www.anomalous-images.com
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