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Leading Aircraftman Ronald George Maddison ( 1933 – 6 May 1953) was a twenty-year-old Royal Air Force engineer who died while acting as a volunteer human "guinea pig", testing nerve agents at Porton Down, in Wiltshire, England. After substantial controversy, his death was the subject of an inquest 51 years after the event. == Sarin test and death == Porton Down had been testing sarin on humans since October 1951, but the first adverse reaction was not recorded until February 1953. An even more severe reaction occurred on 27 April when one of six volunteers, a man named Kelly, was exposed to 300 milligrams of sarin and fell into a coma but subsequently recovered. This prompted a reduction in the dose used in this series of experiments to 200 mg.〔 Along with other servicemen, Maddison was offered 15 shillings and a three-day leave pass for taking part in the experiments. He had planned to use the money to purchase an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Mary Pyle. On the day he died, Ronald Maddison entered a gas chamber at 10:00 a.m. along with five other test subjects. They were each to have an identical experiment performed on them, which were part of a series of experiments to determine the lethal dose of sarin when delivered to bare or battle dress-covered skin.〔 The method used was to measure the change in active acetylcholinesterase in red blood cells at small dose levels and extrapolate this to work out what the effect of larger doses would be. Sarin is extremely poisonous because it attacks the nervous system by blocking the activity of cholinesterase enzymes present in it, including acetylcholinesterase. The method was practical because red blood cell membranes contain forms of acetylcholinesterase. The participants were wearing respirators, with woollen hats and oversize overalls but no proper protective clothing.〔 Two technicians were also present to carry out the experiment. The respirators were tested by exposing the men to tear gas in the chamber before the experiment started.〔 Maddison was the fourth to have the drops applied, at 10:17 having twenty 10 mg drops of sarin applied to the two layers of cloth used in uniforms, serge and flannel, which had been taped〔 to the inside of his left forearm. After twenty minutes, Maddison began to sweat and complain that he did not feel well.〔 One eye witness reported at the second inquest that he slumped over the table.〔 The contaminated cloth was removed and he left the chamber, walking (perhaps with help)〔 about 30 metres to a bench.〔 An ambulance was called and shortly afterwards Maddison complained of deafness, collapsed and began gasping for breath and the scientists injected him with atropine after they witnessed an asthma-like attack and convulsions. An ambulance took him to the site's local medical facility, where he arrived at 10:47. Attempts were made to resuscitate him using oxygen, further injections of atropine and anacardone, and finally an injection of adrenaline into his heart just after 11 am.〔 Although he had died at 11 am, less than 45 minutes after being exposed to the poison〔 he was not formally pronounced dead until 1:30pm.〔 The timeline of events leading to Maddison's death was as follows:〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ronald Maddison」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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