- LONDON (Reuters) - Britain,
which acknowledges having tested deadly Sarin nerve gas on soldiers in
the 1950s and 1960s, denied a Sunday newspaper report that the tests had
continued until as late as 1983.
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- The Sunday Telegraph said it had seen British Defense
Ministry documents which showed that the chemical warfare agent was tested
on a soldier in 1983, and that he was denied an antidote by scientists
studying the chemical's effects.
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- But a British Defense Ministry spokesman, asked if Sarin
had been used in 1983, told Reuters: "It was not."
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- "It was used in the 50s and 60s. That is part of
the public record," the spokesman said.
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- The Sunday Telegraph said it had seen the documents,
which it said would be made public in two months, when 500 ex-servicemen
launched a legal case against the authorities, claiming they had been used
as human guinea pigs.
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- The Defense Ministry says it has seen no evidence that
soldiers who participated in experiments at the Porton Down research center
have suffered long-term health problems, but is cooperating with a two-year
inquiry into the practice.
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- People exposed to small quantities of Sarin suffer symptoms
including difficulty in breathing, nausea, jerking, staggering and loss
of bladder and bowel control. Exposure is frequently fatal.
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- One Porton Down test subject, Ronald Maddison, died in
1953.
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- Maddison's death was ruled a "misadventure"
at the time, but Britain's top legal adviser, the attorney general, has
given permission for a second inquest to be held five decades later.
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- Servicemen say they hope to show that Maddison died as
a result of an illegal Sarin test.
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