Word: anthrax
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...Porton Down bacteriological research unit to conduct a series of experiments. The site: Gruinard Island, a bleak, uninhabited, 1½ mile-long patch of land that lies just 600 yds. off the west coast of northern Scotland. The tests were conducted with Bacillus anthracis, better known as anthrax, which has lethal and well-documented effects on both animals and humans. Anthrax is believed to have caused the fifth plague in Egypt mentioned in the Book of Exodus, and an outbreak of the disease swept through southern Europe in the 17th century, killing thousands. The object of the tests on Gruinard...
...answer, the scientists quickly discovered, was yes. In the first experiment, a bomb containing billions of anthrax spores was exploded, soon killing 60 sheep that were brought to the island. Occasional tests continued throughout the war. In 1943 a dead sheep from Gruinard washed ashore on the mainland, contaminating several farm animals. Unaffected by the experiments, Gruinard's rabbits flourished...
After the war, scientists gradually realized that the anthrax spores were difficult to destroy and might stay alive on the island for decades. In 1971, following a series of tests, officials concluded that the spores were no longer on the surface of the ground but had penetrated about 6 in. deep into the earth, where, presumably, they were harmless if not disturbed. As the years passed, the government regularly renewed the signs warning people not to set foot on the island, but did little else. A few visitors disregarded the notices, walked around Gruinard and came away unharmed...
Sure enough, the first package of dirt, weighing 10 Ibs., was found the same day near the Porton Down laboratories, and analysis showed that it contained Bacillus anthracis. Although the box that showed up at Blackpool did not contain anthrax spores, officials said the soil was similar to that on Gruinard Island...
...outbreak of pulmonary anthrax, attributed to the development of biological-warfare weapons in a Sverdlovsk military facility, is, as you say, a revelation that is sure to contaminate further the at mosphere of detente. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn says, "This is the same detente that the West basked in so contentedly while millions were being exterminated in the jungles of Cambodia . . . and at a time when a thousand men, including twelve-year-old boys, were being executed in one Afghan village." We need detente like we need a hole in the head...