Page 58 - Unit 731 Testimony

it would be for very sick human beings. Moreover, as Professor Tsuneishi
points out, the test subjects used in this research were listed simply as
"monkeys." Failure to identify the species of an animal in an experiment

lowers the value of the paper reporting its results. Where monkeys were
actually used, it was common practice to identify the type. Thus, it was an
open secret that the simple and unscientific use of the term "monkey" by
itself was a code which meant that the subjects were humans.
The medical community knew this. The journal knew this. The

readiness with which Kitano publicized this transparent sham—and its
acceptance by Japan's medical community at large—is a sad testament to
the lack of conflict between the ethical standards of the medical world in
Japan and those of Unit 731.

Plague

Armies that want to use disease as a military weapon want something
that acts fast and is fatal. Cholera, for instance, with its incubation period of
about twenty days, would not generally be a feasible tactical weapon. (This
helps explain the emphasis on vaccine research in the case of that disease;
Unit 731's work with cholera would appear aimed more at preventing it
among Japanese troops than making active use of it on the battlefield.)

Plague, on the other hand, starts killing within three days, and has a long,
illustrious history as a weapon of biological warfare. One of the earliest
recorded uses of plague in warfare was in 1346 in the Crimea, where the
Genoese army was besieged inside a walled fortress by the Mongols. When
plague broke out among the latter, they turned this development to their
advantage by throwing the dead, diseased bodies over the Genoese

ramparts. After that, the Mongols unwittingly carried the plague through
Asia, and the troops from Genoa carried it back to Europe, where it became
the feared "Black Death."
With its proven credentials as a terrible and effective instrument of
war, plague was one of the first diseases focused in on by the Ishii unit

researchers. They apparently placed a lot of weight on researching—and
causing—this disease, and as many as six plague attacks were reportedly
carried out. The best known of these operations are outlined here.

In October 1940 a plague attack was conducted against the Kaimingjie
area of the port city of Ningbo. This was a joint operation by Unit 731 and
one of its affiliates, Nanjing-based Unit 1644. In this operation, plague