Editing Incapacitating agent (section)

===The 20th century===
Following [[World War II]], the United States military investigated a wide range of possible nonlethal, psychobehavioral, chemical incapacitating agents to include psychedelic [[indole]]s such as [[lysergic acid diethylamide]] (LSD-25) and the [[tetrahydrocannabinol]] derivative [[Dimethylheptylpyran|DMHP]], certain tranquilizers, as well as several glycolate anticholinergics. One of the anticholinergic compounds, [[3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate|3-quinuclidinyl benzilate]], was assigned the NATO code "BZ" and was weaponized beginning in the 1960s for possible battlefield use. (Although BZ figured prominently in the plot of the 1990 movie, ''[[Jacob's Ladder (1990 film)|Jacob's Ladder]]'', as the compound responsible for hallucinations and violent deaths in a fictitious American battalion in [[Vietnam]], this agent never saw operational use.) Destruction of American stockpiles of BZ began in 1988 and is now complete.

==== US survey and testing programs ====
{{main|Project MKUltra|}}
{{see also|Psychochemical warfare|Johnston Atoll # Biological warfare test site 1965}}

By 1958 a search of the tropics for venomous animal species in order to isolate and synthesize their [[toxin]]s was prioritized. For example, [[snake venom]]s were studied and [[The College of Medical Evangelists]] was under contract to isolate [[Tetraodontidae|puffer fish]] poison. The [[New England Institute for Medical Research]] and Fort Detrick were studying the properties and biological activity of the [[Botulinum toxin]] molecule. The [[Edgewood Chemical Biological Center|U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Laboratories]] were isolating shellfish toxin and trying to obtain its structure.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=S. M. |title=Chemical and biological weapons. Implications for anaesthesia and intensive care† |journal=British Journal of Anaesthesia |date=1 August 2002 |volume=89 |issue=2 |pages=306–324 |doi=10.1093/bja/aef168|pmid=12378672 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

A Central Intelligence Agency [[Project Artichoke]] document reads: "Not all viruses have to be lethal ... the objective includes those that act as short-term and long-term incapacitants."<ref name=Avon2010 /> {{cn span|text=One of the most urgent of Chemical Corps projects in the period 1960 to 1961 was the effort to achieve a standard chemical incapacitating agent. For several years attention had been fixed on the military potentialities of the [[Psychochemical weaponry|psychochemicals]] of various types. Research on new agents tended to concentrate on [[Virus|viral]] and [[rickettsia]]l diseases. A whole range of exotic virus diseases prevalent in tropical areas came within the screening program in 1960–61, with major effort directed at increased first hand knowledge of so-called [[Arbovirus|arboviruses]] (i.e. arthropod borne viruses). The importance of epidemiological studies in connection with this area of endeavor was being emphasized.|date=July 2021}}  Pine Bluff Arsenal was a rickittsiae and virus production center and biological agents against wheat and rice fields were tested in several locations the southern U.S. as well as in Okinawa.<ref name="Chauhan2004">{{cite book|author=Sharad S. Chauhan|title=Biological Weapons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGZwgxoHxCAC&pg=PA121|date=January 1, 2004|publisher=APH Publishing| isbn=978-81-7648-732-0| pages=121–}}</ref>

The concept of "humane warfare" with widespread use of incapacitating or deliriant drugs such as [[LSD]] or [[3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate|Agent BZ]] to stun an enemy, capture them alive, or separate friend from foe had been available in locations such as [[Berlin]] since the 1950s, an initial focus of US CBW development was the offensive use of diseases, drugs, and substances that could completely incapacitate an enemy for several days with some lesser possibility of death using a variety of chemical, biological, radiological, or toxin agents.<ref name="Hersh1">{{cite book |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |title= Chemical and Biological Warfare America's Hidden Arsenal |url=http://lccn.loc.gov/68-15808 |year=1967 |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill Company |location= New York|pages=354}}</ref>  The US Army [[Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence]] (ACSI) authorized operational field testing of LSD in interrogations in the early 1960s. The first field tests were conducted in Europe by an Army Special Purpose Team (SPT) during May to August 1961 in tests known as [[Project Third Chance|Project THIRD CHANCE]]. The second series of field tests, [[Project Derby Hat|Project DERBY HAT]], were conducted by an Army Special Purpose Team in the Far East during August to November 1962.<ref name=Senate1977A>1977 Senate Hearings on MKULTRA--APPENDIX A. Documents Referring To Subprojects{{PD-notice}}</ref>

A study of possible uses of migratory birds in germ warfare was funded through Camp Detrick for years using the Smithsonian as a cover. Government documents have linked the Smithsonian to the CIA's mind control program known as [[MKULTRA]]. The CIA were interested in bird migration patterns for CBW research under MKULTRA where, a Subproject 139 designated "Bird Disease Studies" at [[Pennsylvania State University]]. An agents purchase of a copy of the book ''Birds of Britain, Europe,'' is recorded as part of what was described in a financial accounting of the MKULTRA program as a continuous project on bird survey in special areas.<ref>{{cite news |first=Bill |last=Richards |title= Data shows 50's projects: Germ Testing by the CIA|newspaper=Washington Post |page=A1 |date=June 17, 1977 |access-date= January 20, 2014 |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/CIA%20CBW/Item%2001.pdf }}</ref> Sampling of native migratory organisms with a focus on birds provided to researchers the natural habitat of disease causing fungus, viruses, and bacteria as well as the established (or potential) vectors for them. The sampling also provided exotic tropical viruses and toxins from the various organisms collected on both land and sea. The studies, including the [[Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program]] (POBSP) were conducted by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] and [[Project SHAD]] crews on Pacific islands and atolls. The "bird cruises" were subsequently found to be a U.S. Army cover for the prelude to chemical, biological, and entomological warfare experiments related to [[Deseret Test Center]], [[Project 112]], and [[Project SHAD]].<ref name="4Birds">{{cite journal |last1= MacLeod|first1=Roy M. |year=2001 |title="Strictly for the Birds": Science, the Military and the Smithsonian's Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program, 1963-1970 |journal=Journal of the History of Biology |volume=34 |issue= 2|pages= 315–352 |doi=10.1023/A:1010371321083 |s2cid=90838207 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Ammo">{{cite news |title=Live Ammo: The Pacific Project exposed U.S. sailors to biowarfare and chemical agents |first=Mark J. |last= Rauzon |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-nov-19-tm-blackbio47-story.html |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=November 19, 2006 |access-date=May 7, 2013}}</ref><ref>[http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Veterans/SHADII/Alderson%20Comments%20for%20Presentation.pdf Notes for Project SHAD presentation by Jack Alderson given to Institute of Medicine on April 19, 2012 for SHAD II study]{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

A U.S. War Departments report notes that "in addition to the results of human experimentation much data is available from the Japanese experiments on animals and food crops."<ref name=wardept>[http://www.healthycitizens.com/WarCrimesFull.pdf U.S. War Department, War Crimes Office Report (undated), retrieved: January 17, 2014] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040203132434/http://www.healthycitizens.com/WarCrimesFull.pdf |date=February 3, 2004 }}{{PD-notice}}</ref>  German researchers have found that records of the Entomology Institute at the [[Dachau concentration camp]] show that under orders of [[Schutzstaffel]] (SS) leader [[Heinrich Himmler]], the Nazis began studying mosquitoes as an offensive biological warfare vector against humans in 1942. It was generally thought by historians that the Nazis only intended ever to use biological weapons defensively.<ref>[http://www.thelocal.de/20140214/nazis-mosquitos-weapon-biological-warfare Nazis 'wanted to use mosquitoes as a weapon'], February 14, 2014, (English) retrieved February 14, 2014</ref>

Project 112 included objectives such as “the feasibility of an offshore release of [[Aedes aegypti]] mosquitoes as a vector for infectious diseases,” and “the feasibility of a biological attack against an island complex.”<ref name="USBW">{{cite book|editor1=Mark Wheelis|editor2=Lajos Rózsa|title=Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons since 1945|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-04513-2|author1=John Ellis|author2=Courtland Moon|chapter=The US Biological Weapons Program|pages=26–28}}</ref>
"The feasibility of area coverage with adedes aegypti mosquitoes was based on the Avon Park, Florida mosquito trials."<ref name=Avon2014>{{cite web|url=http://highlandstoday.com/hi/local-news/what-happened-in-the-1950s-at-avon-park-air-force-range-20140406|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419090137/http://highlandstoday.com/hi/local-news/what-happened-in-the-1950s-at-avon-park-air-force-range-20140406/|title=What happened in the 1950s at Avon Park Air Force Range?|last1=Valero |first1=Marc|archive-date=April 19, 2014|date=April 6, 2014}}</ref> 
Several CIA documents, and a 1975 Congressional committee, revealed that several locations in Florida, as well as Avon Park, hosted experiments with mosquito-borne viruses and other biological substances. Formerly top-secret documents related to the CIA's [[Project MKNAOMI]] prove that the mosquitoes used in Avon Park were the Aedes aegypti type.
"A 1978 Pentagon publication, entitled ''Biological Warfare: Secret Testing & Volunteers,'' reveals that the Army's [[Chemical Corps]] and Special Operations and Projects Divisions at Fort Detrick conducted 'tests' similar to the Avon Park experiments but the bulk of the documentation concerning this highly classified and covert work is still held secret by the Pentagon."<ref name=Avon2010>{{cite web |url=http://truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/90808:florida-dengue-fever-outbreak-leads-back-to-cia-and-army-experiments |title=Florida Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA and Army Experiments |last1=Martell |first1=Zoe |last2=Albarelli  |first2= H.P. Jr. |date=July 21, 2010|website=truth-out.org |publisher=Truth-Out |access-date=April 4, 2015}}</ref>