I remember seeing on daily orders, the request for "volunteers" on occasion. We all knew it was for Porton Down. You can guess how many of us put our names forward!
Stories like these by the US and British governments engaging in unethical research are by no means the only ones, they're just some of the ones that have come to light so far. It's extremely naive to think that they are the only two governments that have engaged in such research, and there are undoubtedly many more programs in countries with even less history of openness that no one has heard of.
I was in the RAMC between 1971 and 1974. As with all other soldiers, we were subjected to NBC training (Nuclear, Biological & Chemical). It comprised training in full NBC suits and gas masks while doing physically demanding tasks and culminating in exposure to CS gas (tear gas). This involved walking around in a sealed chamber while the gas was pumped in. We had to continue this walking (which directly followed the more strenuous tasks) in order to ensure we were out of breath. Before being allowed out of the chamber, we were ordered to remove the gas mask and recite out number, rank and name before replacing the gas mask. Most of us had been advised by other soldiers who had already undergone this ordeal to take a deep breath before removing the mask and recite our number, rank and name in one breath but not to take a breath until the mask was back on. The 'Brass' had wised up to this so we were invariably to repeat the process as soon as we had replaced the mask, making it virtually impossible not to gasp in a lungful of the gas. Just the skin exposure alone resulted in intense burning in the eyes, nostrils and lips. Breathing it in caused equally intense burning in the throat and lungs. CS gas is used to disperse mobs and is very effective. However, these scenarios tend to be in open air where the gas mixed with fresh air and it is possible to escape the worst of it. It's a different kettle of fish in a sealed chamber where the gas is concentrated. When you sign up to the military, you are agreeing to obey orders that are likely to be fatal. Having agreed to that, they have carte blanch to use you in any way they choose, regardless of any long term effects or even death. Whatever they do is protected by secrecy.
"CS gas is used to disperse mobs" No it's not, it's used exclusively on protesters. Same for rubber bullets. Mobs are allowed to do whatever they want freely, and eventually, months later, maybe face a little punishment if they're identified. My local elderly councilwoman got hit directly in the face by a pig half her age and the photo made the front page newspaper lmfao
@@dfar2303 Ah yes! I'd forgotten that little detail. I did avoid washing my face for several hours (as advised). But the reality is that you have to wash your face eventually and, when you do, it's like washing in battery acid! I discovered this while not only washing my face but wet shaving. NOT a pleasant experience!
I was a young recruit in the British Army in January 1963. Shortly after joining our platoon was offered the chance to volunteer for "safe" experiments into cures for the common cold at Porton Down. We were assured that should we get any nasty reactions then the Army doctors would ensure our complete recovery. The amount of money offered to volunteer for this experimentation amounted to a few shillings. I am always thankful that I had the good sense to decline their generous offer..!!!. Also as regards the CS gas experiments..we had to run around a soccer pitch wearing respirators...then we were thrust into the gas chamber which was just full of CS GAS ..and as we ran through the door the respirator was whipped off our faces by a senior nco. We had to complete two circuits of the gas chamber..whilst running before being allowed out..which ensured that our skin..our eyes and our lungs were totally contaminated with the gas. Needless to say at the ripe old age of 78 years...I have no time..patience or sympathy...for this sort of lying crap that was forced on to just a bunch of young kids..who believed in their government and their so called "betters".!
When I was in the military in the 70s I received a letter from Porton Down. It explained to me that only 1 in 17 people die there so I had a good chance of getting through. It said that the medical facilities were excellent so I would be very comfortable and I would get a couple of pounds a week extra pay. I threw the letter in the bin and hoped that they would forget about me.
@@danielcronin7512 One other guy in our group returned from a trip there and people thought it was funny that he couldn't stop one of his legs twitching quite violently. In those days you were not regarded the same way.
Porton Down is featured in the 2022 psychological horror film The Sleep Experiment directed by John Farrelly. Two detectives begin an investigation into a disastrous secret military experiment where five prisoners were kept awake for thirty days in the facility. "Porton Down" is the name of a song by Peter Hammill. The song "Jeopardy" by Skyclad is about the experimenta developed in Porton Down.
@@ShadowReignhart That's what I thought yeah. Readings of it are some of the first "creepy internet story" videos you can find on TH-cam or the like. It's weird that it's gone from being an old, fairly good creepypasta story to being a full blown movie.
I remember in about 1983 in the RAF I was the usual pisshead and one day the routine orders came round and they were looking for volunteers for Portan Down, to find a cure for the common cold. It promised extra pay and a few weeks away from the humdrum of normal life. I was on about volunteering. I worked with Aircrew at this facility and one of them just turned on his wheelie chair, looked me in the eyes and said, it isn't the common cold. Don't volunteer. I was normally one to buck authority but the way he looked at me and said it was enough for me. I'm glad now I never went.
You're lucky you listened to your gut. They replicated experiments at porton down during and after ww2 that the Japanese unit 731 came up with. I read about it in a Gordon Thomas's book about the history of mk ultra and other human experiments done on unwitting civilians.
Porton Down's history serves as a stark reminder of the fine line between pushing scientific boundaries and ethical compromise. Great civilisations throughout history have often placed the pursuit of power and knowledge above individual lives, from Ancient Greece's use of slaves in infrastructure projects to the atrocities committed during World War II. Porton Down joins this unfortunate list alongside Unit 731 in Japan and the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments in the United States - in which subjects were disrespected and their rights disregarded for the sake of science. Whilst results driven by urgency can certainly serve a purpose, it's an unsettling reminder that morality can be sacrificed if not taken into consideration. The words of Plato remain pertinent: "Seek knowledge, but always with justice". The goal of progress should never come at a greater cost than what is reasonable; otherwise we cannot call it progress.
Reminds me a lot of what some SCP authors lean towards. The science and experiments sometimes described in the articles is extremely unethical, but 'irs for the greater good of humanity' so they have to keep being unethical so reality doesn't fold in on itself.
@@shaunburns3332agreed, Unit 731 was horrendous, Including dropping anthrax, plague, fleas with bubonic plague On Chinese towns. Nothing like Porton down.
Yeah U731 was in a league of its own. It's the answer to the question of "what if the Nazis had staffed the death camps with competent scientists instead of the sort of people who believe in scientific racism."
Lots of dodgy stuff went down in the old days. The facility these days is very important in it’s one of the few places in the world that is equipped to study biological threats and come up with solutions to deal with them. It has emergency labs when something needs looking at urgently. Sadly it still has a farm section and animal testing still goes on.
Secret government facilities give off a vibe like future serial killers in their teens starting to experiment and steadily ramping up. (or sometimes just like full blown serial killers!)
Ive been a Guinea pig at porton down in a chemical weapon decontamination trial, that was a rough experience! I had a substance which they claimed was a harmless simulant applied to my body in varying amounts and my body was marked out in sections with marker pen. Then I had to walk along a 60ft walkway which had fire hose style water jets positioned all along the sides and above on scaffolding and got blasted with water the full length of the walkway, the water was so powerful that it was hard to stay on your feet! This was done in winter in a very large marquee tent with cold water and i had to to it in just shorts, then i was not allowed to dry myself with anything and had to drip dry. Once i was dry, i was placed in a cubicle with UV lights in it and my body had photos taken. I was on the border of hypothermia at the end of the ordeal and it took me many hours to recover from how cold i got and still did not feel 100% the next day. I then had to collect my urine in a big plastic fuel can style container for the next 24 hours so they could test it for what they claimed was a harmless simulant, makes you wonder what was really in it!
@@stephenlovesyou4151 Edited my first comment to include this but here you go as a separate post tagging you will give you a notification. I had a substance which they claimed was a harmless simulant applied to my body in varying amounts and my body was marked out in sections with marker pen. Then I had to walk along a 60ft walkway which had fire hose style water jets positioned all along the sides and above on scaffolding and got blasted with water the full length of the walkway, the water was so powerful that it was hard to stay on your feet! This was done in winter in a very large marquee tent with cold water and i had to to it in just shorts, then i was not allowed to dry myself with anything and had to drip dry. Once i was dry, i was placed in a cubicle with UV lights in it and my body had photos taken. I was on the border of hypothermia at the end of the ordeal and it took me many hours to recover from how cold i got and still did not feel 100% the next day. I then had to collect my urine in a big plastic fuel can style container for the next 24 hours so they could test it for what they claimed was a harmless simulant, makes you wonder what was really in it!
@@oliviawolcott8351 it's been 10 years since I did that and it does not appear to of harmed me but like you said, it had to be simulating a specific thing so who knows what was really in it but I'm still alive and have not grown any additional limbs lol
I went there when I was 18, I took part in the trials for the new general service respirator. I remember our escort telling us to "stay away from that compound" in the middle of the camp, due to the "minefield and shoot on sight policy" there. Apparently it was Europe's only biosafety level 4 storage facility, which from what I can gather, basically means that it's a building chock-full of various apocalypses.
Every country is allowed one military chemical and biological level 4 facility. It can also have as many biosafety level 4 facilities it wants for non military purposes.
You were told wrong then, both Germany and France have had multiple BSL-4 labs from the start of the Cold War onwards as well, if not even before, and likely several other countries did too.
@@pieterveenders9793 UK has 9 bsl4 labs. Only one deals with developing weapons. How many of the French lands develop weapons? I'm more than happy to be wrong and learn
Back when i was slightly younger,40+ years ago, and on the dole we would see on the job boards in the wiltshire area " would you like to help in the cure for the common cold"..these as you can imagine were never taking up as it was "common" knowledge around here that you would go to Porton for a long weekend.
As a civilian you would have gone to the Common Cold research establishment which was also close to Salisbury. So you would NOT have gone to Porton Down
My grandparents had friends who lived in Wiltshire. Like all of the civilian population, they had only scant knowledge of what was truly going on at Porton Down. My grandparents' friends kept gas masks at the ready. The man of the house had been a British soldier who saw combat in WWI. I just wonder how many more "research" facilities are located near large population centres. It's what "they" don't tell us which unnerves me to the core. To be foretold is to be forewarned. Thank you, Simon.
Yeah that's the thing about the UK. For the US, we have a gigantic desert that's very sparsely inhabited, which the government greatly prefers, but y'all just over there packed on that island like sardines. Not a lot of empty space for them to hide their dark stuff in.
I live just a few miles away from Porton Down, even nearly got a job there. Now just the other side of where I live there was a mental home called Park Prewett. Allegedly patients from the Park would be take to Porton Down on "day trips". No idea if it's true or not, but knowing of the ethics that Porton Down had, even before watching this video, I wouldn't be surprised if it was true!
Members of parliment put themselves forward in service for our country, I think that service should also include these tests from Portan Down. They order it, they do it themselves.
Things like this are very rarely discussed in parliament. They would have been treated as a internal matter by the relevant branches of the military and civil service with very few politicians knowing what was happening. Plus the experiments frequently went against orders to be more careful.
When I was in the RAF we were told we'd be paid a substantial bonus if we volunteered for Porton Down, so I did. My boss called me in and advised me against it. He wouldn't say why but he left me in no doubt it was a very very bad idea, so I un-volunteered.
Britain exports nearly half of the world's medical cannabis. One called GW Pharmacitals is based at Porton Down. Theresa May's husband has shares in medical cannabis. Also company in charge of detention sites along US Mexico boarder.
I've vilified the Japanese government for their human experiments in China, they weren't alone were they. I got chills multiple times during this video, incredible. Are we beyond the point where we just randomly test humans we feel are in an inferior class or position or country? As of the late 90's, apparently not in Britain. Some guys volunteered for "common cold" experiments to get a weekend pass. What a world
The American military is much the same, even today. Soldiers will be warned (sometimes) that they’re going to be exposed to something but won’t be told what. Some friends of mine decided not to have anymore children because of that.
Simon, your voice is a welcome companion during my long, sometimes stressful work days. I love the fact that you have 682 TH-cam channels, because I never run out of things to listen to.
9:25 i'd much rather call it "risky illegal acts that could endanger people but will spur a nation to action at the very least". i'm sure they took some measure of effort to avoid accidental exposures and/or deaths. no need to kill if you don't have to.
I was one of the development cases for Operation Antler. I also attended everyday that I could have the Maddison enquiry. The reason that the CPS gave for not bringing charges were that one Government Department could not prosecute a second one. On top of that, there could be no prosecutions because the Nuremberg Code of Ethics on Human Experimentation had not been passed into law, so there had been no breach of human rights. Simon, please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more...
just when I think i'd found all the inspirations for Resident Evil, Simon gives me some new ones XD i saw your previous video, I'm glad you did a remake.
My partner did have an interview to work there (though it would be on the IT side) really glad he didn’t get it. Not that his current employer is much better, what with all the tax dodging and being owned by Rishi Sunak’s father in law. As he always says in his defence, he doesn’t work very hard.
I'm sure your partner's efforts to give his employer an amount of effort precisely commensurate with his salary would be greatly respected by Mr Narayan Murthy and by Rish! as well. After all, that *is* how capitalism is supposed to work, right?
Do one on the use of deadly toxines in the insect repellent used by the military in 40s through to the 90s. Alot of the boys are dropping from cancers and all sorts of diseases. Weird how the fittest, healthiest most physically robust of the species die at a young age.
Citation? On a global scale, it would be expected that some number of young men will pass in these ways, and if it were a real thing, it would show up in birth rates. Less fertile men = less pregnancies = lower birth rates
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Russia arranged via the secret services with the UK to use Porten Down to do exactly what you just said. Our governments are closer than they'd have you believe. And do you trust the UK government? What have the last 20 years taught us.... The UK may have been happy to do it for political stability and all the while maintain plausible deniability (IE blame the Russians).
I did go to Porton Down as a "Human Observer" - their term for a human guineapig. Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of servicemen were not exposed to nerve agent. In fact, 492 different "war gasses" were trialed on servicemen. I was one of those that was exposed to GB Nerve, aka Sarin Nerve... my experience was so bad that I decided that if I could I would become an NBC instructor, which I did.
Videos like this make me wonder why there are so many sheep out there who still believe big brother loves us and will make our lives a paradise, if only we give them more power.
Never use paint stripper (trchloromethane) on car body work and heat it with a blowtorch. This could lead to deadly phosgene gas, particularly in an enclosed space like a garage.
I was aware of approximately 80 percent of the content with the exception of the Pakistani trials and experiments with nerve gas. Not that I did any research into this, rather I learned it all from watching Simon Whistler's videos😅
I was in the RAF at a big station near Oxford and decided to volunteer to go to Porton Down in the Mid 80's and having filled out the application form, I went to the Junior Ranks Mess for Dinner, as it was crowded I asked to sit a table with a RAF Regiment lad. We got talking and I mentioned Porton Down, he told me not to be so "flipping" stupid and told me a story of one of his mates, he volunteered and went there to test NBC protective suits. One day he was asked to do an "extra" test. He said NO!! Then £200 was waved under his nose, he was then taken to another room and with his abdomen exposed, a pipette was used to put a tiny drop of a liquid onto the exposed skin. The result was a massive blister, covering his entire belly/ lower abdomen. Each day a Lab tech/Nurse would come in and draw off the liquid in the blister. Eventually the "Blister" dried up and this man was sent back to unit. After hearing this story, my application was torn up and in the Bin
@16:12 to be fair its not that hard to get a sample of the bubonic plague. Since in many areas its still endemic to wild rodent populations. If i wanted i could probably get a sample from the prairie dogs or marmots near where i live.
I believe that its also the base of NHS England....at least thats what the sign said in the fence when i went there! Well sinister place, had a building with massive blast doors and windows that were looking inwards, the ledges were on the outside of the building, the whole place is full of armed security guards, obviously!
The most interesting takeaway from this video, for me, is that the genesis of the so-called "Mutually-Assured Destruction" principle wasn't actually the birth of nuclear weapons. Britain's condition that it reserved the right to use chemical weapons if they were attacked with them first is TOTALLY an example of "Mutually Assured Destruction" logic.
I lived in a town that consisted of 10 or so houses. A large barbed wire fence and a manned guard house, the fence had another gate where my dad went to work in the morning. He worked at the Edgewood arsenal. It was shutdown for some reason around 1975 we moved into army housing a few miles away and he was transferred to the Aberdeen proving grounds. Neat thing Frank Zappa lived in the same little town years earlier. He said in his book if died from cancer it was probably because of where his father worked.
"First, do no harm- unless it's in the advancement of scientific knowledge applicable to war efforts and weapons research." The Hypocritical Hippocratic Oath.
Why didn’t /do they use murderers and Paedophiles for testing, rather than law abiding members of the public and brave service personal? Plus it would solve the over crowded prison population
I have done a delivery to this place. I have been to many military places and even nuclear storage sites. This place is the only one that actually made me nervous.
9:21 Shouldn’t the resale price have been at least adjusted for inflation or some sort of interest? Especially considering how long the island was withheld from the family.
Mustard Gas led to the first chemotherapy treatment for cancer and its derivatives are still being used now. Porton Down spin-offs also include Botox injections to treat torticollis & dystonic spasticity and low temperature enzymes for biological washing powder.
Mind bogglingly evil. This is some Illuminati Bond villain level stuff. I'm just trying to imagine some paper pushing civil servant signing off on these atrocities.
I worked there for a short time in security and nearly took up a permanant position there. However i was also offered a position at Salisbury CCTV and took that because it was closer.
I remember watching the local news one night, and there was an article on how the government had just greenlit Porton Down to get a bigger budget than it had ever had, bigger than all the budget increases since the War combined. The very next day, there was that Novochok attack, four miles up the road on Salisbury.
@sideshow4417 source? According to media reports who claim police reports as sources. It was the army medical corps chief nursing officer who found the pair. Not the Head of portondown.
I despair how people make unsubstantiated claims on social media and everyone just slavishly accepts them as truth. The Salisbury attack occurred on March 4th, Novichok announced as agent on March 12th, budget increase published March 14th. So I call BS in your post, do I claim a prize?
With limited movement between the key and keeper, keys will be more prone to breaking off in locks. it happens enough already under normal circumstances without adding a big fixed handle to the head of the key. The wallet seems like a good product, but as a locksmith I cant endorse the key holder.
I don't usually comment with any kind of feedback for editing and whatnot, but just as a friendly suggestion: could you please look into possibly balancing the chapter card music/sounds a bit more with the rest of the video? I'm wearing headphones and some of the music got pretty loud and jarring in comparison to Simon talking. That's all! 😊 Thank you for the video! I have a morbid fascination with this kind of stuff (as many do). It's a bit difficult finding more examples aside from the ones everyone already knows. I hope those "volunteers" didn't suffer too badly for the rest of their life. 😢
Video Sponsored by Ridge Wallet. Check them out here: ridge.com/shadows Use Code “SHADOWS” for 10% off your order!
RIDGE wallets sure sucks in the EU where coins are still an actual thing....
And why isn´t there a Simon Whistler vid about Kapustin Yar??? Sounds promising (or please link if there is)
Wallets and keychains have existed forever for a reason, they work and, they'll outlast this novelty garbage.
3 years since U did Ur Geographics vid on Porton Down, how much did U remember? 😂😂😂
A Ridge Wallet for everyone my ass they don't have a single pop culture or heavy metal band themed wallet.
I remember seeing on daily orders, the request for "volunteers" on occasion. We all knew it was for Porton Down. You can guess how many of us put our names forward!
Stories like these by the US and British governments engaging in unethical research are by no means the only ones, they're just some of the ones that have come to light so far. It's extremely naive to think that they are the only two governments that have engaged in such research, and there are undoubtedly many more programs in countries with even less history of openness that no one has heard of.
Russia, Japan, China, etc. Any developed nation has likely participated in some form of unethical experimentation at some point.
The Germans are famous for it
I was in the RAMC between 1971 and 1974. As with all other soldiers, we were subjected to NBC training (Nuclear, Biological & Chemical). It comprised training in full NBC suits and gas masks while doing physically demanding tasks and culminating in exposure to CS gas (tear gas). This involved walking around in a sealed chamber while the gas was pumped in. We had to continue this walking (which directly followed the more strenuous tasks) in order to ensure we were out of breath. Before being allowed out of the chamber, we were ordered to remove the gas mask and recite out number, rank and name before replacing the gas mask. Most of us had been advised by other soldiers who had already undergone this ordeal to take a deep breath before removing the mask and recite our number, rank and name in one breath but not to take a breath until the mask was back on. The 'Brass' had wised up to this so we were invariably to repeat the process as soon as we had replaced the mask, making it virtually impossible not to gasp in a lungful of the gas.
Just the skin exposure alone resulted in intense burning in the eyes, nostrils and lips. Breathing it in caused equally intense burning in the throat and lungs. CS gas is used to disperse mobs and is very effective. However, these scenarios tend to be in open air where the gas mixed with fresh air and it is possible to escape the worst of it. It's a different kettle of fish in a sealed chamber where the gas is concentrated.
When you sign up to the military, you are agreeing to obey orders that are likely to be fatal. Having agreed to that, they have carte blanch to use you in any way they choose, regardless of any long term effects or even death. Whatever they do is protected by secrecy.
"CS gas is used to disperse mobs" No it's not, it's used exclusively on protesters. Same for rubber bullets. Mobs are allowed to do whatever they want freely, and eventually, months later, maybe face a little punishment if they're identified. My local elderly councilwoman got hit directly in the face by a pig half her age and the photo made the front page newspaper lmfao
Yes this is the same nowadays & repeated annually as part of recertification.
Memories.
They can programme and train the military all they like, it only takes one to remember a truth that he just can’t forget.
I saw him first 😎
@@dfar2303 Ah yes! I'd forgotten that little detail. I did avoid washing my face for several hours (as advised). But the reality is that you have to wash your face eventually and, when you do, it's like washing in battery acid! I discovered this while not only washing my face but wet shaving. NOT a pleasant experience!
Should we dose people with Sarin? Yes
Should we have an ambulance on standby? -No
Are there any medical personal here? -No
"We did our best tho .."🙄
My dad was stationed there in the 50s.
Told me there was some crazy stuff going on.... He never elaborated
He wasn't kidding!
I was a young recruit in the British Army in January 1963. Shortly after joining our platoon was offered the chance to volunteer for "safe" experiments into cures for the common cold at Porton Down. We were assured that should we get any nasty reactions then the Army doctors would ensure our complete recovery. The amount of money offered to volunteer for this experimentation amounted to a few shillings. I am always thankful that I had the good sense to decline their generous offer..!!!.
Also as regards the CS gas experiments..we had to run around a soccer pitch wearing respirators...then we were thrust into the gas chamber which was just full of CS GAS ..and as we ran through the door the respirator was whipped off our faces by a senior nco. We had to complete two circuits of the gas chamber..whilst running before being allowed out..which ensured that our skin..our eyes and our lungs were totally contaminated with the gas.
Needless to say at the ripe old age of 78 years...I have no time..patience or sympathy...for this sort of lying crap that was forced on to just a bunch of young kids..who believed in their government and their so called "betters".!
When I was in the military in the 70s I received a letter from Porton Down. It explained to me that only 1 in 17 people die there so I had a good chance of getting through. It said that the medical facilities were excellent so I would be very comfortable and I would get a couple of pounds a week extra pay. I threw the letter in the bin and hoped that they would forget about me.
Yikes!
Did they
Riiiight.....
I don't like those odds either! However I seriously doubt one out of seventeen volunteers died. Maybe it was a gullibility test😅
@@danielcronin7512 One other guy in our group returned from a trip there and people thought it was funny that he couldn't stop one of his legs twitching quite violently. In those days you were not regarded the same way.
I totally notice and love the new graphics!
I thought I was watching the wrong channel for a second. 😂😅
Porton Down is featured in the 2022 psychological horror film The Sleep Experiment directed by John Farrelly. Two detectives begin an investigation into a disastrous secret military experiment where five prisoners were kept awake for thirty days in the facility.
"Porton Down" is the name of a song by Peter Hammill. The song "Jeopardy" by Skyclad is about the experimenta developed in Porton Down.
Thanks for the tip about The Sleep Experiment. Really layered & creepy.
Sounds like a Call of Cthulhu scenario.
The Sleep Experiment... Isn't that a frankly ancient horror internet story? I think it originates from 4chan or something similar.
@@VallornDeathbladeIt's an old creepypasta.
@@ShadowReignhart That's what I thought yeah. Readings of it are some of the first "creepy internet story" videos you can find on TH-cam or the like. It's weird that it's gone from being an old, fairly good creepypasta story to being a full blown movie.
I remember in about 1983 in the RAF I was the usual pisshead and one day the routine orders came round and they were looking for volunteers for Portan Down, to find a cure for the common cold. It promised extra pay and a few weeks away from the humdrum of normal life. I was on about volunteering. I worked with Aircrew at this facility and one of them just turned on his wheelie chair, looked me in the eyes and said, it isn't the common cold. Don't volunteer. I was normally one to buck authority but the way he looked at me and said it was enough for me. I'm glad now I never went.
You're lucky you listened to your gut. They replicated experiments at porton down during and after ww2 that the Japanese unit 731 came up with.
I read about it in a Gordon Thomas's book about the history of mk ultra and other human experiments done on unwitting civilians.
The old "Common Cold" cure call up 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@sichere yep, that close to becoming a lab rat.
@@chrisbentleywalkingandrambling The fourth booster is for those who have not died yet 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Porton Down's history serves as a stark reminder of the fine line between pushing scientific boundaries and ethical compromise. Great civilisations throughout history have often placed the pursuit of power and knowledge above individual lives, from Ancient Greece's use of slaves in infrastructure projects to the atrocities committed during World War II. Porton Down joins this unfortunate list alongside Unit 731 in Japan and the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments in the United States - in which subjects were disrespected and their rights disregarded for the sake of science. Whilst results driven by urgency can certainly serve a purpose, it's an unsettling reminder that morality can be sacrificed if not taken into consideration. The words of Plato remain pertinent: "Seek knowledge, but always with justice". The goal of progress should never come at a greater cost than what is reasonable; otherwise we cannot call it progress.
Reminds me a lot of what some SCP authors lean towards. The science and experiments sometimes described in the articles is extremely unethical, but 'irs for the greater good of humanity' so they have to keep being unethical so reality doesn't fold in on itself.
Don’t think we can compare portion down and unit 731 in the same sentence
@@shaunburns3332agreed,
Unit 731 was horrendous,
Including dropping anthrax, plague, fleas with bubonic plague
On Chinese towns.
Nothing like Porton down.
what an absolute load of balls. are you ok? you want me to call your carer?
Yeah U731 was in a league of its own. It's the answer to the question of "what if the Nazis had staffed the death camps with competent scientists instead of the sort of people who believe in scientific racism."
2:15 - Chapter 1 - The beginnings
4:25 - Chapter 2 - The rawalpindi experiments
6:20 - Chapter 3 - Gruinard island
9:40 - Chapter 4 - Continued experiment
14:55 - Wrap up
Thank you! 🍺😎👍
Some of this is covered in greater detail in Ulf Schmidt's 'Secret Science'. It's an equally terrifying and infuriating read.
Lots of dodgy stuff went down in the old days. The facility these days is very important in it’s one of the few places in the world that is equipped to study biological threats and come up with solutions to deal with them. It has emergency labs when something needs looking at urgently. Sadly it still has a farm section and animal testing still goes on.
Secret government facilities give off a vibe like future serial killers in their teens starting to experiment and steadily ramping up. (or sometimes just like full blown serial killers!)
Vietnam was effective in creating serial killers.
And people wonder why there's so little trust in government...
this
Ive been a Guinea pig at porton down in a chemical weapon decontamination trial, that was a rough experience!
I had a substance which they claimed was a harmless simulant applied to my body in varying amounts and my body was marked out in sections with marker pen.
Then I had to walk along a 60ft walkway which had fire hose style water jets positioned all along the sides and above on scaffolding and got blasted with water the full length of the walkway, the water was so powerful that it was hard to stay on your feet!
This was done in winter in a very large marquee tent with cold water and i had to to it in just shorts, then i was not allowed to dry myself with anything and had to drip dry.
Once i was dry, i was placed in a cubicle with UV lights in it and my body had photos taken.
I was on the border of hypothermia at the end of the ordeal and it took me many hours to recover from how cold i got and still did not feel 100% the next day.
I then had to collect my urine in a big plastic fuel can style container for the next 24 hours so they could test it for what they claimed was a harmless simulant, makes you wonder what was really in it!
Can you please share more of your story? Please.
@@stephenlovesyou4151 Edited my first comment to include this but here you go as a separate post tagging you will give you a notification.
I had a substance which they claimed was a harmless simulant applied to my body in varying amounts and my body was marked out in sections with marker pen.
Then I had to walk along a 60ft walkway which had fire hose style water jets positioned all along the sides and above on scaffolding and got blasted with water the full length of the walkway, the water was so powerful that it was hard to stay on your feet!
This was done in winter in a very large marquee tent with cold water and i had to to it in just shorts, then i was not allowed to dry myself with anything and had to drip dry.
Once i was dry, i was placed in a cubicle with UV lights in it and my body had photos taken.
I was on the border of hypothermia at the end of the ordeal and it took me many hours to recover from how cold i got and still did not feel 100% the next day.
I then had to collect my urine in a big plastic fuel can style container for the next 24 hours so they could test it for what they claimed was a harmless simulant, makes you wonder what was really in it!
my guess is what ever it was a simulant for would be the actual thing you got dosed with.
@@oliviawolcott8351 it's been 10 years since I did that and it does not appear to of harmed me but like you said, it had to be simulating a specific thing so who knows what was really in it but I'm still alive and have not grown any additional limbs lol
@@stevefox3763correct me if I'm wrong, but radium glows under UV light right? So maybe they were testing the effects of some radiation.
I went there when I was 18, I took part in the trials for the new general service respirator. I remember our escort telling us to "stay away from that compound" in the middle of the camp, due to the "minefield and shoot on sight policy" there. Apparently it was Europe's only biosafety level 4 storage facility, which from what I can gather, basically means that it's a building chock-full of various apocalypses.
Every country is allowed one military chemical and biological level 4 facility. It can also have as many biosafety level 4 facilities it wants for non military purposes.
You were told wrong then, both Germany and France have had multiple BSL-4 labs from the start of the Cold War onwards as well, if not even before, and likely several other countries did too.
@@pieterveenders9793 UK has 9 bsl4 labs. Only one deals with developing weapons. How many of the French lands develop weapons? I'm more than happy to be wrong and learn
@@davidbalfour3390 My comment was in response to the top commenter, @WrathOfGrapesN7.
@@davidbalfour3390 Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory - Cellular Level Biosafety Level 4 Laboratory
Simon I would like see you do a video on INTERPOL and exactly what they do.
Thanks Greg
That's a good idea.
Wow, Simon, give your staff a raise. The intro looks great!
No raise, went bust on the I tro graphics!😅
I'm deep into Biographics withdrawl...
Back when i was slightly younger,40+ years ago, and on the dole we would see on the job boards in the wiltshire area " would you like to help in the cure for the common cold"..these as you can imagine were never taking up as it was "common" knowledge around here that you would go to Porton for a long weekend.
These were also on the job boards in Andover, Hants early 1980s.
As a civilian you would have gone to the Common Cold research establishment which was also close to Salisbury. So you would NOT have gone to Porton Down
One of my relatives worked there. He was a doctor in "occupational health".
My grandparents had friends who lived in Wiltshire. Like all of the civilian population, they had only scant knowledge of what was truly going on at Porton Down. My grandparents' friends kept gas masks at the ready. The man of the house had been a British soldier who saw combat in WWI. I just wonder how many more "research" facilities are located near large population centres. It's what "they" don't tell us which unnerves me to the core. To be foretold is to be forewarned. Thank you, Simon.
Yeah that's the thing about the UK. For the US, we have a gigantic desert that's very sparsely inhabited, which the government greatly prefers, but y'all just over there packed on that island like sardines. Not a lot of empty space for them to hide their dark stuff in.
You are never far from WMD in he UK
@@miral6694 Most of the UK's Dark stuff is kept in very dark remote far away places.
@@sichere Yes indeed.
I live just a few miles away from Porton Down, even nearly got a job there.
Now just the other side of where I live there was a mental home called Park Prewett.
Allegedly patients from the Park would be take to Porton Down on "day trips".
No idea if it's true or not, but knowing of the ethics that Porton Down had, even before watching this video, I wouldn't be surprised if it was true!
Members of parliment put themselves forward in service for our country, I think that service should also include these tests from Portan Down. They order it, they do it themselves.
Things like this are very rarely discussed in parliament. They would have been treated as a internal matter by the relevant branches of the military and civil service with very few politicians knowing what was happening.
Plus the experiments frequently went against orders to be more careful.
Really appreciated this episode. Found myself uttering “FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” a number of times.
When I was in the RAF we were told we'd be paid a substantial bonus if we volunteered for Porton Down, so I did. My boss called me in and advised me against it. He wouldn't say why but he left me in no doubt it was a very very bad idea, so I un-volunteered.
Britain exports nearly half of the world's medical cannabis. One called GW Pharmacitals is based at Porton Down. Theresa May's husband has shares in medical cannabis. Also company in charge of detention sites along US Mexico boarder.
My dad was exposed to Agent Orange in his U.S. army unit. He wasn't even in Vietnam, it was just after.
I've vilified the Japanese government for their human experiments in China, they weren't alone were they. I got chills multiple times during this video, incredible. Are we beyond the point where we just randomly test humans we feel are in an inferior class or position or country? As of the late 90's, apparently not in Britain. Some guys volunteered for "common cold" experiments to get a weekend pass. What a world
Many countries government experimented on humans no idea why everyone bring unit 731 as if they were the only one.
The American military is much the same, even today. Soldiers will be warned (sometimes) that they’re going to be exposed to something but won’t be told what. Some friends of mine decided not to have anymore children because of that.
Thanks for throwing the sponsor in in the beginning, makes for a greater viewing experience
Love this channel! Keep going!😊😊😊😊❤❤❤
Growing up in North Dorset (1970s), Porton Down was always known about, and the rumours were always horrifying.
Gees, who was on charge of porton down, Colonel Dr. Evil? Great video and education as always Simon!
"What they don't want you to know but is actually public knowledge"
Simon, your voice is a welcome companion during my long, sometimes stressful work days. I love the fact that you have 682 TH-cam channels, because I never run out of things to listen to.
He’s an actor you dope
9:25 i'd much rather call it "risky illegal acts that could endanger people but will spur a nation to action at the very least".
i'm sure they took some measure of effort to avoid accidental exposures and/or deaths.
no need to kill if you don't have to.
...so terrorism?
Sending live bio weapons as a non state actor is definitely terrorism. As another state it's an act of war
I was one of the development cases for Operation Antler. I also attended everyday that I could have the Maddison enquiry. The reason that the CPS gave for not bringing charges were that one Government Department could not prosecute a second one. On top of that, there could be no prosecutions because the Nuremberg Code of Ethics on Human Experimentation had not been passed into law, so there had been no breach of human rights. Simon, please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more...
hi Simon, have you ever considered a video in the history of Plum Island? Its a small research facility just east of Long Island and NYC
Isn't that where they were going to send Lecter in the movie?
And this is why when in the military you NEVER VOLUNTEER for anything
just when I think i'd found all the inspirations for Resident Evil, Simon gives me some new ones XD i saw your previous video, I'm glad you did a remake.
Nearly got an industrial placement at Porton Down last year within the microbiology lab. God knows what I would be doing
Trying to counteract/cure the latest Russian or Chinese bioweapon in all likelihood.
My partner did have an interview to work there (though it would be on the IT side) really glad he didn’t get it. Not that his current employer is much better, what with all the tax dodging and being owned by Rishi Sunak’s father in law. As he always says in his defence, he doesn’t work very hard.
I think these are more your own ideological preoccupations than anything else.
Partner? What are you co owners of a business? It’s your husband or boyfriend ffs
@@SyntaxErr19287 boyfriend is a somewhat infantilising term for a man in his 30s.
I'm sure your partner's efforts to give his employer an amount of effort precisely commensurate with his salary would be greatly respected by Mr Narayan Murthy and by Rish! as well. After all, that *is* how capitalism is supposed to work, right?
@@allanmason3201 It’s a Simpsons joke. Sarcasm really does not translate on the internet.
Do one on the use of deadly toxines in the insect repellent used by the military in 40s through to the 90s. Alot of the boys are dropping from cancers and all sorts of diseases. Weird how the fittest, healthiest most physically robust of the species die at a young age.
Citation? On a global scale, it would be expected that some number of young men will pass in these ways, and if it were a real thing, it would show up in birth rates. Less fertile men = less pregnancies = lower birth rates
@@dstinnettmusicif gets in your blood then it gets in your dna. It can be passed on through reproduction.
That’s DEET you’re talking about. So incredibly deadly you can still buy it on the high street today.
I read somewhere a few years ago that exposure to Agent Orange altered the DNA of some soldiers, in addition to causing several kinds of cancer.
No that was dioxin, but yes a deet is dangerous.
The way you say "carcinogenic" reminds me of how Benedict Cumberbatch says the word "Penguin" 😂
I think he adds an extra “i” between the n and the o 🤭 funny
Peng-wings 😂
Hey Simon! How long did it take you to grow that beard?
Gotta admit, if I knew that they wanted someone to try liquid THC on, I would probably volunteer. That sounds great!
The Novichok poisonings happened down the road from the facility, and we blamed the Russians. 😂
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Russia arranged via the secret services with the UK to use Porten Down to do exactly what you just said.
Our governments are closer than they'd have you believe. And do you trust the UK government? What have the last 20 years taught us....
The UK may have been happy to do it for political stability and all the while maintain plausible deniability (IE blame the Russians).
Even the guy who was poisoned actually worked for Porton down at the time 😂
I did go to Porton Down as a "Human Observer" - their term for a human guineapig. Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of servicemen were not exposed to nerve agent. In fact, 492 different "war gasses" were trialed on servicemen. I was one of those that was exposed to GB Nerve, aka Sarin Nerve... my experience was so bad that I decided that if I could I would become an NBC instructor, which I did.
Videos like this make me wonder why there are so many sheep out there who still believe big brother loves us and will make our lives a paradise, if only we give them more power.
Just smh.
Safe and effective
Just wear a mask for two and a half years
You can trust your government
Wasn’t Porton Down featured in V for Vendetta?
Never use paint stripper (trchloromethane) on car body work and heat it with a blowtorch. This could lead to deadly phosgene gas, particularly in an enclosed space like a garage.
No music! 👏👏👏👏👏! Please continue this practice on all of your channels.
I was aware of approximately 80 percent of the content with the exception of the Pakistani trials and experiments with nerve gas. Not that I did any research into this, rather I learned it all from watching Simon Whistler's videos😅
I was in the RAF at a big station near Oxford and decided to volunteer to go to Porton Down in the Mid 80's and having filled out the application form, I went to the Junior Ranks Mess for Dinner, as it was crowded I asked to sit a table with a RAF Regiment lad. We got talking and I mentioned Porton Down, he told me not to be so "flipping" stupid and told me a story of one of his mates, he volunteered and went there to test NBC protective suits.
One day he was asked to do an "extra" test. He said NO!!
Then £200 was waved under his nose, he was then taken to another room and with his abdomen exposed, a pipette was used to put a tiny drop of a liquid onto the exposed skin.
The result was a massive blister, covering his entire belly/ lower abdomen.
Each day a Lab tech/Nurse would come in and draw off the liquid in the blister.
Eventually the "Blister" dried up and this man was sent back to unit.
After hearing this story, my application was torn up and in the Bin
I like the new presentation backgrounds.
Thank you so much for captioning well!
"Britain's Most Cryptic Facility" absolutely cracks me up because it's just another office to me 😂
Yes but you're not privy to the cryptic part, are you?
@@eadweard. wouldn't you like to know 😉
@@xessenceofinsanityx :)
@@xessenceofinsanityx we can just assume you are? And therfor against the British public.
@@DJWESG1 Hey, I might be a mad scientist, but I'm not EVIL
@16:12 to be fair its not that hard to get a sample of the bubonic plague. Since in many areas its still endemic to wild rodent populations. If i wanted i could probably get a sample from the prairie dogs or marmots near where i live.
It's not even that hard to treat these days. I'd be more worried about weponized Marburg than the plague.
We call it Voluntold now, same principle though
I believe that its also the base of NHS England....at least thats what the sign said in the fence when i went there!
Well sinister place, had a building with massive blast doors and windows that were looking inwards, the ledges were on the outside of the building, the whole place is full of armed security guards, obviously!
I live incredibly near to here and have always wanted to know more about it. Bit like Stonehenge I guess, there's definitely more to find out.
Man these bastards at Unit 731- Auschwi- Porton Down... you know, im beginning to question my mom always telling me "people are basically good"... 😢
The most interesting takeaway from this video, for me, is that the genesis of the so-called "Mutually-Assured Destruction" principle wasn't actually the birth of nuclear weapons. Britain's condition that it reserved the right to use chemical weapons if they were attacked with them first is TOTALLY an example of "Mutually Assured Destruction" logic.
I really really hope those responsible for the horrible experiments that never faced any punishments have had tragedy filled lives.
What a horrible thing to say, you were clearly raised wrong and in a home overflowing with hypocrisy.
That will never happen, they live and lived like being God's 😢
will never happen, look at some of the atrocities that other country's have done like America in the past with Hiroshima.
This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Look up Ewen Cameron’s experiments in “psychology” next
Porton Down doesn’t manufacture nerve gas. There’s sufficient left in stock from when the UK did manufacture such weapons in the past.
I lived in a town that consisted of 10 or so houses. A large barbed wire fence and a manned guard house, the fence had another gate where my dad went to work in the morning. He worked at the Edgewood arsenal. It was shutdown for some reason around 1975 we moved into army housing a few miles away and he was transferred to the Aberdeen proving grounds. Neat thing Frank Zappa lived in the same little town years earlier. He said in his book if died from cancer it was probably because of where his father worked.
"First, do no harm- unless it's in the advancement of scientific knowledge applicable to war efforts and weapons research." The Hypocritical Hippocratic Oath.
They were medical researchers, not GP's. Very different. Researchers do not take the hippocratic oath.
@@spankyjeffro5320We can see why then 😳🫣
Why didn’t /do they use murderers and Paedophiles for testing, rather than law abiding members of the public and brave service personal?
Plus it would solve the over crowded prison population
They use monkeys. Human trials stopped many years ago
I have done a delivery to this place. I have been to many military places and even nuclear storage sites. This place is the only one that actually made me nervous.
9:21 Shouldn’t the resale price have been at least adjusted for inflation or some sort of interest? Especially considering how long the island was withheld from the family.
Scary stuff.
Mustard Gas led to the first chemotherapy treatment for cancer and its derivatives are still being used now.
Porton Down spin-offs also include Botox injections to treat torticollis & dystonic spasticity and low temperature enzymes for biological washing powder.
The ends do not justify the means
....yet some people really think that we can trust our government!
Mind bogglingly evil. This is some Illuminati Bond villain level stuff. I'm just trying to imagine some paper pushing civil servant signing off on these atrocities.
Operating a vehicle while on acid and being stoned out of your mind must have been wild
In early on this one whistle boy!
Of course, the UK signed the Geneva agreement « under reservation ». As it always does with treaties. The EU included.
Not sure what you mean.
Like the Paris Accord?
UN resolution 4.1 forbidding development of bio agents in neutral countries during the Cold War. The Cassandra Crossing 1976.
@@eadweard.The UK promises a lot and never delivers that promise, I've lived here my whole life and it's all I've seen from our government
@@EL67671 You'd need to be more specific really.
Petition for Simon to do a glitter beard
@10:07 has picture of the ship 'Lyme Bay', not the location.
The Sailsbury Novichok incident is right on Porton Down's doorstep, just some food for thought.
I worked there for a short time in security and nearly took up a permanant position there. However i was also offered a position at Salisbury CCTV and took that because it was closer.
This is the best one of his into the shadows the delivery is better unlike the others
When I was in infantry we were asked if we wanted to go for couple of weeks,o by the way you'll get extra money,my answer. NO kin way 🇬🇧
I remember watching the local news one night, and there was an article on how the government had just greenlit Porton Down to get a bigger budget than it had ever had, bigger than all the budget increases since the War combined. The very next day, there was that Novochok attack, four miles up the road on Salisbury.
Do you think the two are related?
@@eadweard. Why not ask the first person on scene at the "attack", you know the person in charge of Porton Down.
@@sideshow4417 That's not actually true though, is it?
@sideshow4417 source? According to media reports who claim police reports as sources. It was the army medical corps chief nursing officer who found the pair. Not the Head of portondown.
I despair how people make unsubstantiated claims on social media and everyone just slavishly accepts them as truth. The Salisbury attack occurred on March 4th, Novichok announced as agent on March 12th, budget increase published March 14th. So I call BS in your post, do I claim a prize?
France was the first to use chemical weapons in WW1, not Germany. Germany just upped the game on it.
What's insane is that they didn't have medical staff on site!
Beavis and Butt-Head do America have the “X5”!
With limited movement between the key and keeper, keys will be more prone to breaking off in locks. it happens enough already under normal circumstances without adding a big fixed handle to the head of the key. The wallet seems like a good product, but as a locksmith I cant endorse the key holder.
Dear Simon do not show your keys, the same way it is a bad idea to show your cards, from a still frame it is really easy to make copies of them
I always get thrown off when I near anything about Wiltshire, my home town is only 40mims from Salisbury...
I have to go there for work next week.
Probably shouldn't watch this beforehand...
I don't usually comment with any kind of feedback for editing and whatnot, but just as a friendly suggestion: could you please look into possibly balancing the chapter card music/sounds a bit more with the rest of the video? I'm wearing headphones and some of the music got pretty loud and jarring in comparison to Simon talking. That's all! 😊
Thank you for the video! I have a morbid fascination with this kind of stuff (as many do). It's a bit difficult finding more examples aside from the ones everyone already knows. I hope those "volunteers" didn't suffer too badly for the rest of their life. 😢
Wouldn't surprise me that lots of people weren't volunteers but were voluntold.
as a rawalpindi resident ..scared to learn about this..😢
All this time i thought it was "portland" down
Am I wierd for actually being excited for when i get these notifactions for t hese videos?