Chemists on the front line
The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory has a near century-long history of working with chemical weapons. Philip Robinson reports from Porton Down
In a sunlit atrium, suited men and women sit at scattered tables, consult documents and laptops, and queue for coffee. An unremarkable scene found in research institutions all over the world.
But a second glance highlights the impressive adherence to security protocol. Further glances take in posters of fighter jets and the occasional figure in camouflage. Realisation dawns as the occupants of a nearby room bustle out, several of them in uniforms decorated with the ribbons of military service. This is no ordinary research institute. It is the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, the UK’s scientific research facility for the armed forces.
‘The role of DSTL is to maximise the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK,’ explains Andy Bell, DSTL’s chief technical officer. DSTL has four main sites working on a huge range of military and security issues. The chemists in the Chemical and Biological Radiological (CBR) area at Porton Down are focused on protecting military personnel and, increasingly, civilians deployed alongside them from the threats of chemical weapons.
Porton Down has a long history of dealing with these chemicals. In October 1915, at Ypres in Belgium, thousands of French troops fell in minutes as a cloud of chlorine gas submerged their trenches, beginning a new era of chemical warfare. In 1916, Porton Down was selected to host the UK’s response, developing chemical capability and countermeasures for the military.
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