Porton Down veterans had raised death rates after chemical warfare tests
Veterans of Ministry of Defence tests at Porton Down in the UK involving chemical warfare agents such as sarin, lewisite and sulphur mustard had a higher mortality rate in subsequent yearsBritish servicemen who acted as guinea pigs in controversial chemical warfare tests at Porton Down in Wiltshire subsequently had a higher mortality rate than others in the forces, a study has found.The Ministry of Defence tested hundreds of chemical agents on military volunteers for decades after the First World War, prompting concerns among some veterans that their health had been permanently damaged.More than half of the Porton Down veterans were exposed to known or suspected cancer-causing chemicals.In most cases, experiments ran over one to four weeks, with servicemen typically exposed to chemical or biological agents twice each week.The MoD-funded study of more than 18,000 men who took part in the tests found that their risk of dying between 1941 and...
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