Feb 26, 2022, 03:23 am
(This post was last modified: Feb 26, 2022, 03:28 am by Resurgence. Edited 1 time in total.)
Written by Rob Edwards
Published: February 25, 2022
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) covered up evidence that toxic contamination from wartime chemical weapons tests on Gruinard Island could have spread to the Scottish mainland, previously secret Government documents have revealed.
After soil laced with the deadly toxin anthrax was dumped in England by protestors in 1981, MoD officials privately admitted that it could have come from two Scottish headlands across the sea from the island.
But if this was to be revealed, it would be “potentially embarrassing”, according to papers shared with The Ferret website.
One official cautioned that the “sleeping dog” of mainland contamination should be left to lie. And, if publicly questioned, “we should not mention the existence of any particular form of data”, suggested a senior official in a confidential letter in May 1982.
At the time the MoD denied that the mainland could have been contaminated by secret Second World War experiments on Gruinard. Now it says the island has been “deemed safe”, but hasn’t commented on mainland contamination.
The SNP described the revelations as “extremely alarming” and demanded an environmental audit of the MoD’s use of Scotland as a “dumping ground”. Campaigners accused the MoD of misleading the public about a potential health risk.
Gruinard in Wester Ross was used as a biological weapon testing ground in 1942 and 1943. Bombs packed with anthrax were exploded upwind of 80 sheep, killing them all.
The contaminated island remained closed to visitors for more than four decades. In 1981 an anonymous protest group mounted “Operation Dark Harvest” and dumped containers of soil by the MoD’s Chemical Defence Establishment (CDE) at Porton Down, in Wiltshire, and in Blackpool during the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference.
The protestors initially said the soil was from Gruinard but later suggested it had come from the mainland. Government scientists detected anthrax in the soil dumped at Porton Down but not in the soil left in Blackpool.
In 1986 the MoD carried out a major clean-up operation on Gruinard and in 1990 the UK Government declared it safe, and allowed visitors for the first time in almost 50 years.
Now documents revealing that the mainland could also have been contaminated have been unearthed from the National Archives at Kew in London for a BBC Scotland television documentary, to be shown on 1 March.
They show that the Dark Harvest claims prompted the MoD to review evidence that the mainland could have been contaminated. The outcome was reported in a confidential memo from Rex Watson, then head of the CDE at Porton Down, on 22 December 1981.
“It is possible that one or more clouds of the anthrax aerosol passed over the mainland coast,” he wrote.
Watson identified Static Point and Rubha Beat as two headlands that could have been contaminated. The precautions taken in 1942-43 did not “absolutely guarantee that there could be no contamination of either adjacent headland”, he said.
“Although I very much doubt if anyone could be found to claim that this level of possible contamination would constitute a hazard… it would clearly be potentially embarrassing to the department to renew our argument with Dark Harvest.”
On 10 May 1982 a senior MoD official, Dr M H C Warner, wrote to Watson discussing “the public line to be taken” on mainland contamination from Gruinard. “I would suggest that while we could say we are co-operating with the Scottish authorities in their investigations, we should not mention the existence of any particular form of data,” he said.
In a later memo on 18 May 1982 Warner apologised if his “scrupulous concern for honesty” had created “unnecessary concern”.
He added: “I do not believe it would be sensible to disturb the sleeping dog of whether there is any anthrax contamination on either of the two headlands. It would be extraordinarily expensive to sample and measure the area that could have been affected. We would be very lucky (and miserable) if a random test were to come up positive.”
As far as is known, the MoD did not test the mainland by Gruinard for anthrax contamination, and in 1982 one senior official highlighted the possibility that the owners of contaminated land on the mainland could “mount a claim for compensation”.
SNP environment spokesperson in Westminster, MP Deidre Brock, said the revelations were “extremely alarming” and called for a “full environmental audit”.
“The MoD appears to have covered up evidence of anthrax contamination on the Scottish mainland from Gruinard Island in the 1980s,” she told The Ferret.
“It isn’t the first time the MoD has shown shocking disregard for public health and the environment. It has been using Scotland’s islands and coasts as a dumping ground.”
The Scottish Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands, Ariane Burgess said: “It is bad enough that a Scottish island was used to test vile chemical weapons. But if, as it seems, subsequent contamination has spread and then been covered up, people deserve to know.”
The land campaigner and former Green MSP, Andy Wightman, warned that the MoD could have misled the public and put the health of local residents at risk. “The MoD must now come clean about the concerns raised in these documents and clarify what hazards may still exist,” he said.
The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament argued that “inhumane and indiscriminate” weapons posed “unheralded risks” to the countries that develop them. “With no mechanisms for rigorous public scrutiny, complacency about risk and duplicitous silences about accidents are likely,” said campaign chair, Lynn Jamieson.
The Scottish Government said that it did not hold any records on Gruinard contamination, and referred queries to the MoD.
The MoD did not respond to questions about anthrax contamination on the mainland.
https://inews.co.uk/news/scotland/gruina...on-1485357
Published: February 25, 2022
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) covered up evidence that toxic contamination from wartime chemical weapons tests on Gruinard Island could have spread to the Scottish mainland, previously secret Government documents have revealed.
After soil laced with the deadly toxin anthrax was dumped in England by protestors in 1981, MoD officials privately admitted that it could have come from two Scottish headlands across the sea from the island.
But if this was to be revealed, it would be “potentially embarrassing”, according to papers shared with The Ferret website.
One official cautioned that the “sleeping dog” of mainland contamination should be left to lie. And, if publicly questioned, “we should not mention the existence of any particular form of data”, suggested a senior official in a confidential letter in May 1982.
At the time the MoD denied that the mainland could have been contaminated by secret Second World War experiments on Gruinard. Now it says the island has been “deemed safe”, but hasn’t commented on mainland contamination.
The SNP described the revelations as “extremely alarming” and demanded an environmental audit of the MoD’s use of Scotland as a “dumping ground”. Campaigners accused the MoD of misleading the public about a potential health risk.
Gruinard in Wester Ross was used as a biological weapon testing ground in 1942 and 1943. Bombs packed with anthrax were exploded upwind of 80 sheep, killing them all.
The contaminated island remained closed to visitors for more than four decades. In 1981 an anonymous protest group mounted “Operation Dark Harvest” and dumped containers of soil by the MoD’s Chemical Defence Establishment (CDE) at Porton Down, in Wiltshire, and in Blackpool during the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference.
The protestors initially said the soil was from Gruinard but later suggested it had come from the mainland. Government scientists detected anthrax in the soil dumped at Porton Down but not in the soil left in Blackpool.
In 1986 the MoD carried out a major clean-up operation on Gruinard and in 1990 the UK Government declared it safe, and allowed visitors for the first time in almost 50 years.
Now documents revealing that the mainland could also have been contaminated have been unearthed from the National Archives at Kew in London for a BBC Scotland television documentary, to be shown on 1 March.
They show that the Dark Harvest claims prompted the MoD to review evidence that the mainland could have been contaminated. The outcome was reported in a confidential memo from Rex Watson, then head of the CDE at Porton Down, on 22 December 1981.
“It is possible that one or more clouds of the anthrax aerosol passed over the mainland coast,” he wrote.
Watson identified Static Point and Rubha Beat as two headlands that could have been contaminated. The precautions taken in 1942-43 did not “absolutely guarantee that there could be no contamination of either adjacent headland”, he said.
“Although I very much doubt if anyone could be found to claim that this level of possible contamination would constitute a hazard… it would clearly be potentially embarrassing to the department to renew our argument with Dark Harvest.”
On 10 May 1982 a senior MoD official, Dr M H C Warner, wrote to Watson discussing “the public line to be taken” on mainland contamination from Gruinard. “I would suggest that while we could say we are co-operating with the Scottish authorities in their investigations, we should not mention the existence of any particular form of data,” he said.
In a later memo on 18 May 1982 Warner apologised if his “scrupulous concern for honesty” had created “unnecessary concern”.
He added: “I do not believe it would be sensible to disturb the sleeping dog of whether there is any anthrax contamination on either of the two headlands. It would be extraordinarily expensive to sample and measure the area that could have been affected. We would be very lucky (and miserable) if a random test were to come up positive.”
As far as is known, the MoD did not test the mainland by Gruinard for anthrax contamination, and in 1982 one senior official highlighted the possibility that the owners of contaminated land on the mainland could “mount a claim for compensation”.
SNP environment spokesperson in Westminster, MP Deidre Brock, said the revelations were “extremely alarming” and called for a “full environmental audit”.
“The MoD appears to have covered up evidence of anthrax contamination on the Scottish mainland from Gruinard Island in the 1980s,” she told The Ferret.
“It isn’t the first time the MoD has shown shocking disregard for public health and the environment. It has been using Scotland’s islands and coasts as a dumping ground.”
The Scottish Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands, Ariane Burgess said: “It is bad enough that a Scottish island was used to test vile chemical weapons. But if, as it seems, subsequent contamination has spread and then been covered up, people deserve to know.”
The land campaigner and former Green MSP, Andy Wightman, warned that the MoD could have misled the public and put the health of local residents at risk. “The MoD must now come clean about the concerns raised in these documents and clarify what hazards may still exist,” he said.
The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament argued that “inhumane and indiscriminate” weapons posed “unheralded risks” to the countries that develop them. “With no mechanisms for rigorous public scrutiny, complacency about risk and duplicitous silences about accidents are likely,” said campaign chair, Lynn Jamieson.
The Scottish Government said that it did not hold any records on Gruinard contamination, and referred queries to the MoD.
The MoD did not respond to questions about anthrax contamination on the mainland.
https://inews.co.uk/news/scotland/gruina...on-1485357