| lyme rayja 2004-11-20, 11:26 am |
| Say everybody, ain't it great to know that Porton Down, the UK's top
bioweapons facility, is helping us Lymies by doing surveillance
research in Britain? They're such a warm, helpful bunch over there.
Let's just hope that we don't have to wait 50 years to find out the
truth of US, British and other NATO countries' "surveillance" work on
Lyme, like the families of the soldiers who volunteered to help Porton
Down with its research studying the common cold. Read on.
Lisa
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/ma.../16/ixhome.html
Porton Down unlawful killing verdict opens gates to claims
By Sally Pook
(Filed: 16/11/2004)
A young airman who died in secret nerve gas experiments at Porton
Down, the Government's chemical and biological warfare research
establishment, was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury found yesterday.
The verdict, delivered half a century after Leading Aircraftman Ronald
Maddison died, is expected to lead to compensation claims amounting to
millions of pounds against the Ministry of Defence from former
servicemen who underwent similar experiments.
Ronald Maddison
LAC Maddison was 20 when he stepped into a sealed gas chamber at
Porton Down, in Wiltshire, in May 1953. He hoped to buy an engagement
ring for his girlfriend, Mary Pyle, with the small amount of money he
was due to be paid for taking part. He died in agony minutes after
sarin, a nerve agent, was dropped onto his arm.
The Home Office ordered his inquest to be held in secret on the
grounds of national security. The only member of LAC Maddison's family
allowed to attend was his father, John.
He was sworn to secrecy by the authorities - he could not even tell
his wife, Jane - and for the rest of his life he never spoke of it.
The official verdict was death by misadventure. LAC Maddison's
parents, four brothers and sister, from Consett, Co Durham, never
received an apology or an explanation as to why he underwent the
experiment. His surviving family fought a long battle for a new
investigation, arguing that he had believed he was taking part in an
experiment to find a cure for the common cold.
Last year, Wiltshire Police announced that no charges would be brought
against the scientists at Porton Down. A £2 million inquiry centred on
700 servicemen and women who took part in tests between 1939 and 1989.
Many said they believed they were participating in experiments to find
a cure for the common cold but were exposed instead to CS gas, mustard
gas and hallucinogens.
Lord Justice Woolf quashed the original verdict into LAC Maddison's
death and ordered a fresh inquest after he was told that the police
investigation had found the airman had not given informed consent to
the experiment. He said it was a death which had occurred "at the
hands of the state".
During the inquest, which re-opened in Trowbridge, Wilts, exactly 51
years to the day that LAC Maddison died, the jury was told by Gerwyn
Samuel, for the Maddison family, how servicemen were told the tests
were to find a cure for the common cold.
The Ministry of Defence insisted all the servicemen tested at Porton
were told beforehand they were taking part in nerve gas experiments.
An experiment at Porton Down testing anthrax cultures
Yesterday, the jury of six men and four women concluded that the cause
of LAC Maddison's death was "application of a nerve agent in a
non-therapeutic experiment".
David Masters, the Wiltshire coroner, said: "It's my belief that the
time is right for there to be a review of the statute law applicable
to human experimentation. I propose to write to the Home Secretary
accordingly." Alan Care, the solicitor for Lillias Craik, LAC
Maddison's sister, said he would be seeking compensation for her and
550 others who underwent experiments at Porton Down.
He added: "Lillias Craik is unable to attend, having suffered a stroke
but she wishes me to say that the family are pleased that the verdict
is unlawful killing by the state."
Speaking after the verdict, Kenneth Earle, a survivor and founder of
the Porton Down Veterans Support Group, said: "We are delighted with
this verdict. It shows that illegal experiments were being carried out
on young unsuspecting servicemen who were being exposed to
unacceptable risks."
He confirmed that the group would be pushing for a fully independent
public inquiry.
The Ministry of Defence said it would be seeking legal advice on a
judicial review of the coroner's ruling and direction to the jury.
|