COMMENTS ON BACTERIOLOGICAL WARFARE BY A SOVIET SCIENTIST

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
S
Document Page Count: 
3
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 10, 2011
Sequence Number: 
400
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Publication Date: 
November 24, 1952
Content Type: 
REPORT
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PDF icon CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6.pdf157.7 KB
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/11 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6 CLASSIFICATION S-E-C-R-E-T CENTRAL INTEL GEN ER AGENCY INFORMATION FROM ~ FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS Military - BW Scientific - Medicine, BW Monthly periodical Moecw May 152 Russian S01!RCE Priroda, Vol XLI, No 5, 1952, pp 3-6. CD NO. DATE OF DATE DIST. a.~ Nov 1952 N0.OF PAGES 3 SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT N0. THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION COMMENTS ON BACTERIOLOGICAL WARFARE BY p 30VIE1' SCIENTIST /The Pollnwing is a summary of an article by Pr^O V. D. Timakov, Active Member, Academy of Medical Sciences USSR, published under the title "To Protect Humanity Prom the Threat of Biological Warfare."7 The great pioneers in the field of microbiology, those who belonged to di- verse nationalities and especially Russian microbiologists, worked primarily for the benefit of humanity. Rusrian microbiologists is their heroic and self- eacrificing work have exposed themselves to accidental infection with dangerous dieeaie~i and in wary instances purposely infected themselves xith microorganisms causing diseases like cholera, typhus, relapsing fever, etc. Atypical instance of thls self-sacrificing attitude is the voluntary exile to which D. K. Zabo- lotnyy, N. M. Berestnev, V. N. Isayev, and others aub,jected themselves when they worked in the plague laboratory that was opened _n 1898 on a small island near Kronshtadt. In this laboratory, methods of producing plague vaccint.and anti- plague serum were developed. Some of the people engaged ii, this work caught plague and died. Soviet microbiologists inherited the great tradition of prerevolutionary Russian scientists. In 1932, when the first outbreak of tick encephalitis, a disease which was unknown until then, occurred in the Far Eaat, Soviet scien- tists went into the depth of the tayga to study the disease. These scientists rapidly isolated the causative factor of tick encephalitis, investigated its spread and mode of propagation, and developed a method of preventing the dis- ease. While working on live vaccines for the prophylaxis of plague, Sovlet scien- tists fearlessly tested on themselves vaccines consisting of modified plague ba- cilli. As a result of work by Soviet microbiologists, and- by reason of favorable conditionE which exist in the USSR for combating infectious diseases, smallpox, plague, cholera, and relapsing fever were entirely eradicated. The occurrence COUNTRY SUBJECT HOW PUBLISHED WHERE PUBLISHED DATE PUBLISHED LANGUAGE STATE ARMY ,HAW AIR Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/11 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/11 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6 of malaria, typhoid, and diphtheria was sharply curtailed, and the spread of other infections prevented. During the difficult years of World War II, Soviet microbiologists developed new methods of preparing living vaccines which are active againa? anthrax, plague, tularemia, brucellosis, sad other diseases. In the field of theoretical microbiology, Soviet scientists were the first to demonstrate the possibility of transrv*ation of one species oP bacteria into another related species, and to establisb that microorganisms pass through different phases during development. Wh11e Soviet scientists npply their efforts and knowledge only toward the prevention and elimination of infects^?~s diseases, the imperialists have begun to use bacteria for the mass extermination of human beings. They purposely spread epidemics to achieve this purpose. In capitalistic countries, particu- larly the US, scientists paid by monopolies are doing research aimed at in- creasing the pathogenic qualities of microorganisms. These activities are by no means new. During World War I, the German high command atteapted to use bacteriological weapons. According to the London Times, the Germans made thorough preparations for biological warfare prior to World War II. These included selection and breeding of pathogenic bacteria, study of air drafts at entrances to the Paris subway, research on aerosols, etc. The trial of certain Nazi physicians established that the Germans experi- mented on thousands of war prisoners in their work on infectious agents (see the testimony oP Gen Walter Schreiber). The Japanese vent still further in ex- periments on the application of BW weapons. In 1931, the Kwaatung Army created large bacteriological laboratories for the study of RW methods and weapons. It appears from the minutes of the Khabarovsk trial that Detachment No 731 alone could produce in ore month 300 kg of plague bacilli, 700 kg of anthrax bacllii, and more than a ton of the causative factor of cholera. Japanese bacteriolo- gists working under the direction of Ishii Tiro developed methods for the mass breeding of fleas, ticks, and other disease-carrying parasites. They designed special bacteriological bombs, which were then released over Chinese territory. Particularly extensive investigations in connection with preparations for biological warfare have beer. carried out in the US since 1941. In the US 4,000 experts employed at special Air Force institutes (Camp Detrick, tQd, and Ran- dolph Field, Texas) are working on the application of bacteria Por military purposes. Alfred Zimmeri, director of the so-,ailed scientific center at Hertford, has written; "BW weapons bs.ve already been prepared for use and may be applied immediately. There la no point in quibbling and distinguishing between legal and illegal use of force." The Canadian professor Karrer ~arrerY7 has pointed out the advantages of BW weapons, stating which microbes can be used against human beings and which against animals. Re has said that extermination of, cat- tle can be achieved by spreading rinderpeat, from which 90$ of the cattle per- ish. At present, over the territories oP Korea and northeast China, the Ameri- can imperialists are dropping fleas, ticks, flies, mosquitoes, and sand flies infected with microbes of plague, cholera, typhus, encephalitis, and the causa- tive factors of other diseases. Among all diseases produced by microorganisms in humans and animals, these are the moat severe and cause the greatest amount of suffering. One of the dangerous aspects of BW is that foci of infection are created in places where they did not exist before. These foci may continue to be ac- tive not only during the war, but for prolonged periods after the war. The Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/11 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/11 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6 S-E-C-R-E-T causative factors of InPectioiis diseases forming natural foci are preserved is the bodies of various insects, ticks, and other disease carriers. Some of the disease carriers being dropped by Americans over Korea end China, ticks for in- stance, preserve the artificially introduced disease factor in their bodies for a long time and in the course of propagation transmit it to their progeny from generation to generation. Such carriers of infectious diseases adapt themselves with comparative facility to aev natural conditions sad produce new foci of in- fection vhich remain active for n ice.,,, a,__ The application of HW for the extermination of Lumen beings sad animals is a barbarous way of va iag war; this is why Bii, ae yell as CW, Las been outlawed by the international ~eneva?7 convention of 1925. The sager anti resentment vhich application of BW has caused throughout the xor)d hen forced US Secretary of State Acheson to take recourse to the untrue statement that Americana do not use BW weapons. This assertion does not gibe with writings by US bacteriolo- gists ~rof Th.] Roaebury, Bold, ~Dr Walter J~] Ruagester, president of the American Bacterlologicel Society, a:d others, who with great cynicism discussed in considerable detail the possibilities and applications of BW. Ia the name of humanity and peace, the peace-loving nations of the whole world, under the leadership of the USSR, x111 succeed in putting E atop to the evil deeds of American imperialists, and thus protect humanity Prom the threat of bacteriolcg- ic6 +arfare. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/11 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700090400-6 50X1-HUMS