Leading Aircraftman Ronald George Maddison (c.1933-6 May 1953) was a twenty-year-old Royal Air Force engineer who died while acting as a volunteer human "guinea pig" while testing nerve agents at Porton Down in Wiltshire. Following substantial controversy, his death was the subject of an inquest 51 years after the event.
Maddison, from Consett, County Durham died within 45 minutes of having twenty drops (200 mg) of sarin placed onto a cloth drape...
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Leading Aircraftman Ronald George Maddison (c.1933-6 May 1953) was a twenty-year-old Royal Air Force engineer who died while acting as a volunteer human "guinea pig" while testing nerve agents at Porton Down in Wiltshire. Following substantial controversy, his death was the subject of an inquest 51 years after the event.
Maddison, from Consett, County Durham died within 45 minutes of having twenty drops (200 mg) of sarin placed onto a cloth draped on his arm during an experiment done in 1953 at Porton Down. It has been reported that five subjects entered a sealed gas chamber at 10:17 a.m. All subjects were fitted with respirators. Within twenty minutes, Maddison began to complain that he did not feel well. Three minutes later, Maddison fell over and began gasping for breath. It was at this point that the scientists took him out of the chamber and removed his gas mask. The scientists injected him with atropine after they witnessed an asthma-like attack and convulsions. It has been...
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