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Pentagon reveals rejected chemical weapons - tech - 15 January 2005 - New Scientist
The Pentagon considered developing an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other, provoking widespread homosexual behavior among troops that would cause a "distasteful but completely non lethal" blow to morale.
Other ideas included chemical weapons that attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats to troop positions, making them uninhabitable. Another was to develop a chemical that caused "severe and lasting halitosis", making it easy to identify guerrillas trying to blend in with civilians. There was also the idea of making troops' skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight.
The proposals, from the US Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, date from 1994. The lab sought Pentagon funding for research into what it called "harassing, annoying and 'bad guy' identifying chemicals". The plans have been posted online by the Sunshine Project, an organization that exposes research into chemical and biological weapons.
Spokesman Edward Hammond says it was not known if the proposed $7.5 million, six year research plan was ever pursued.
The Pentagon considered developing an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other, provoking widespread homosexual behavior among troops that would cause a "distasteful but completely non lethal" blow to morale.
Other ideas included chemical weapons that attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats to troop positions, making them uninhabitable. Another was to develop a chemical that caused "severe and lasting halitosis", making it easy to identify guerrillas trying to blend in with civilians. There was also the idea of making troops' skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight.
The proposals, from the US Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, date from 1994. The lab sought Pentagon funding for research into what it called "harassing, annoying and 'bad guy' identifying chemicals". The plans have been posted online by the Sunshine Project, an organization that exposes research into chemical and biological weapons.
Spokesman Edward Hammond says it was not known if the proposed $7.5 million, six year research plan was ever pursued.