''Keen as Mustard'' is a documentary film researched and directed by Bridget Goodwin detailing secret experiments conducted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

on Australian servicemen volunteers to investigate the effects of, and precautions against,

mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, b ...

when used as a weapon in the tropics. The film, released by

Film Australia Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia in 1973. Its predecessors were the Cinema and Photographic Branch (1913–38), the Australian National Film Board (1939–1955, under diffe ...

in 1989, contains extensive historic documentary footage and accounts by several participants, and was made possible by the release of previously highly restricted documents. A book of the same name, containing much additional material, was published in 1998.

History

In the later days of World War II evidence was found in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

of Japan's preparedness to use

chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized Ammunition, munition that uses chemicals chemical engineering, formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be an ...

, in the form of bombs loaded with a mixture of

and

lewisite Lewisite (L) (A-243) is an organoarsenic compound. It was once manufactured in the U.S., Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union for use as a Chemical warfare, chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant (blister agent) and lung irritant. Although the substa ...

. British and American military planners became acutely aware of their lack of knowledge about the effects of such materials on soldiers in tropical areas. An Australian Chemical Warfare Research & Experimental Section was formed in 1942 and a top-secret facility established in Queensland near Innisfail and later Proserpine, where a wide range of tests was performed by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, American and Australian researchers on volunteers from Australian defence personnel, with nurses and laboratory assistants recruited from the

Australian Army Medical Women's Service The Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) was an armed services organisation which existed from 1942 until 1951. Growing out of the St John Ambulance Voluntary Aid Detachments, it was formed in December 1942 and its members served as ...

. Initial tests proved that mustard gas was around four times as potent in tropical climates, with greatest aggravation to the skin occurring in the sweaty areas of the groin, buttocks, back of legs, neck and armpits. A large controlled environment stainless-steel gas chamber was designed by biochemists J. W. Legge and (later Professor Sir)

Hugh Ennor Sir Arnold Hughes "Hugh" Ennor (10 October 1912 – 14 October 1977) was a senior Australian public servant and policymaker. Life and career Ennor was born in Melbourne, the son of a joiner. For schooling, he attended a local Roman Catholic sch ...

to house volunteer subjects to ascertain the effectiveness of various materials and designs of protective clothing, during periods of physical exertion and after being subject to normal wear and tear. Other tests were conducted to determine the limits of endurance of soldiers in performing arduous tasks after bodily exposure to mustard gas. Gas masks or respirators were used to minimise inhalation of the gas. The determined resistance put up by Japanese soldiers against the Americans in their assault on Tarawa in November 1943 prompted the US Army, which had sustained terrible losses in taking the island, to make plans for use of chemical weapons in further attacks of the kind. General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

was in favor of this approach, heavy naval bombardment having been unexpectedly ineffective at lowering the enemy's resistance.

Brook Island Brook Island is one of the many uninhabited Canadian Arctic islands in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut. It is a Baffin Island offshore island located in Frobisher Bay, southeast of the capital city of Iqaluit. Other islands in the immediate vicinit ...

, off the Queensland coast around 30 km east of Cardwell, was prepared with various forms of tunnel and foxhole to simulate the kind of emplacements used by the Japanese army, and goats tethered in these locations. Bombers then carpeted the island with mustard gas bombs and the following day unprotected Australian soldiers were landed on the island to assess the damage, and spent 12 hours there, suffering some lung damage and blisters where their bodies came into contact with contaminated foliage. The Allies never used gas against the enemy, as Japan surrendered following the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Chemical Warfare Unit was top secret and its very existence was denied for many years. Many of the volunteers had never served overseas, and so did not receive the monitoring and preferential health treatment accorded other ex-servicemen by the

Department of Veterans' Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

. Mustard gas is known to damage DNA by

alkylation Alkylation is the transfer of an alkyl group from one molecule to another. The alkyl group may be transferred as an alkyl carbocation, a free radical, a carbanion, or a carbene (or their equivalents). Alkylating agents are reagents for effecting ...

, and it has been suggested that the experiments were responsible for adverse long-term health effects on some of these volunteers.

Recognition

The film was in 1989 Highly Commended in the

Walkley Awards The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for Australian Journalism. It was a finalist for the

United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Prize The United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) is the official non-profit, non-government, membership-based, organisation in Australia working on behalf of the United Nations core body to promote its overall aims and ideals, and equally s ...

The author

Bridget Goodwin was a journalist working for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

before turning her hand to documentary film making. She has also produced documentary films about the author

Hugh Lunn Hugh Duncan Lunn (born 1941 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian journalist and author. Writing career Early journalism Lunn served his journalism cadetship with ''The Courier-Mail''. Upon completing his cadetship, he worked overseas for ...

, the Henry Lawson Festival in Grenfell, New South Wales and Professor

Manning Clark Charles Manning Hope Clark, (3 March 1915 – 23 May 1991) was an Australian historian and the author of the best-known general history of Australia, his six-volume ''A History of Australia'', published between 1962 and 1987. He has been descri ...

Bibliography

*Goodwin, Bridget ''Keen as mustard: Britain's horrific chemical warfare experiments in Australia.'' (1998) University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia,. . *Bridget Goodwin (director) ''Keen as Mustard'' (1989) Film A VHS video was released by

in 1993.

Availability

*A DVD version and a pay-per-view download are available fro
Ronin Films

Further information

The Brook Island trials were much more extensive than this documentary film suggests, relying largely on the evidence of a few participants. There were at least three major trials on the island, liste

This article also mentions unsubstantiated stories about the use of human guinea-pig volunteers from American prisons. The

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

, Canberra has a great deal of material, freely available, related to the Australian Chemical Warfare Research & Experimental Section, some of which is reproduce
here
Goodwin wrote an essay on her research and the making of the film for the series "Working with Knowledge" conference papers online, Session 6 entitled "Science Archives: Humanising and Popularising the Stories", availabl

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2019 Chemical warfare Documentary films about World War II Australian documentary films Human subject research United Kingdom chemical weapons program British World War II crimes