The Rawalpindi experiments were experiments involving use of mustard gas carried out by British scientists from

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...

on hundreds of soldiers from the British Indian Army. These experiments were carried out before and during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

in a military installation at Rawalpindi, in modern-day

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. These experiments began in the early 1930s and lasted more than 10 years. Since the publication of the story in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' on 1 September 2007, the experiments have been referred to as the Rawalpindi experiments or Rawalpindi mustard gas experiments in the media and elsewhere.

Oversight by Porton Down

The experiments in Rawalpindi were part of a much larger project intended to test the effects of chemical weapons on humans. More than 20,000 British servicemen were subjected to chemical warfare trials between 1916 and 1989 at the Defence Ministry's

research centre in southwest England.

Aim of the experiments

The experiments were done to determine the effects of mustard gas, now known to be highly carcinogenic. According to documents at

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, British scientists and doctors tested the effects of mustard gas on over 500 Indian soldiers over a ten-year period. Beginning in the early 1930s, scientists at Rawalpindi sent British Indian Army soldiers, wearing shorts and cotton shirts, into gas chambers to experience the effects of mustard gas. The scientists hoped to determine the appropriate dosage to use on battlefields. Many of the subjects suffered severe burns from their exposure to the gas.

Effects on subjects

These tests caused large numbers of burns, some of which were so damaging that the subjects had to be hospitalized. According to the report severely burned patients were often very miserable and depressed and in considerable discomfort. No long-term effects of exposure were documented or studied.

Missing information

The patients were treated at the Indian Military Hospital Rawalpindi (now known as the

Military Hospital Rawalpindi The Pak Emirates Military Hospital Rawalpindi is the largest hospital of the Pakistan Armed Forces, being one of the hospitals in the Pakistan Army with an ISO certification, located in the city of Rawalpindi. Before independence in 1947 it was ...

). The exact place where the British facility equipped with gas chambers was located in Rawalpindi is unknown.

Porton Down view

Porton Down officials have argued that trials took place in a different era, during a conflict, and so their conduct should not be judged by today's standards.

References