Pont-Saint-Esprit
Encyclopedia
Pont-Saint-Esprit is a commune
in the Gard
département in southern France
. It is situated on the Rhône River
and is the site of a historical crossing, hence its name. The Ardèche River
flows into the Rhône, just to the north of the bridge.
, father of Jacqueline Kennedy.
and various physical symptoms, occurred in Pont-Saint-Esprit. More than 250 people were involved, including 50 persons interned in asylum
s and 7 deaths. The foodborne illness
, which affected other parts of France but were the most serious in Pont-Saint-Esprit, were traced to "cursed bread" (pain maudit).
The causes of the outbreak have never been identified with certainty but several explanations have been proposed. The first hypothesis at the time was that the mass-poisoning was an outbreak of ergotism
. Later investigations focused on mercury poisoning
due to the use of Panogen or other fungicide
s used to treat grains and seeds. As pointed out by Simon Cotton (Chemistry Department of Uppingham School
), there are well-documented instances of mercury poisoning due to such products:
Nevertheless the symptoms exhibited by victims in Pont-Saint-Esprit are not entirely consistent with this hypothesis. In 1982, a French researcher pointed to Aspergillus fumigatus
as a potential culprit. This mycotoxin
is produced in grain silos.
In 2008, historian Steven Kaplan
published Le Pain Maudit, an extensive historical account of the incident and its repercussions. The book argues that the poisoning might have been caused by nitrogen trichloride
used to artificially (and illegally) bleach flour.
's involvement in and knowledge of the operation is linked to his suspicious death. Albarelli says he has found a top secret report issued in 1949 by the research director of the Edgewood Arsenal, where many US government LSD experiments were carried out, which states that the army should do everything possible to launch "field experiments" using the drug. Using Freedom of Information legislation
, he also got hold of another CIA report from 1954. In it a representative from a Swiss chemical company, Sandoz Chemicals, which was close to Pont-Saint-Esprit and produced LSD is reported to have said, "The Pont-Saint-Esprit 'secret' is that it was not the bread at all... It was not grain ergot." According to Albarelli's thesis, the Pont-Saint-Esprit incident was intended as a precursor to a similar experiment scheduled to take place in the New York City subway system. Albarelli states that Sandoz Laboratories was covertly producing LSD
for the CIA at the time and that Sandoz scientists falsely pointed the finger at ergot
or mercury.
Steven Kaplan has dismissed Albarelli's claims as conspiracy theory
. Kaplan criticized the theory as inconsistent with both the event's timeline and the clinical manifestations of the poisoning, calling media coverage of Albarelli's book ethically dubious. Kaplan claimed that the CIA's interest in the incident was neither a surprise nor a secret, and that Project MKULTRA would have had little interest in conducting uncontrolled experiments.
Kaplan's critics counter that uncontrolled experiments were the norm under the CIA's MKULTRA program.
On 23 August 2010, UK's BBC Radio 4
broadcast an investigation by journalist Mike Thompson in which residents of the town, Albarelli, and multiple academics, were all interviewed. Thompson's piece covered the victims' experiences, their treatment at the time, the similarities and differences between ergot and LSD, the feasibility of overseas CIA trials, documentary evidence that 'field trials' had been recommended and that Pont Saint Esprit operative Frank Olson had been mentioned in White House documents with instructions to "bury" the information. After becoming aware of Albarelli's investigation, an 87 year old resident volunteered information that she and a local doctor believed that ergot could not have been the cause. Their view was based upon the doctor's fingertip-only contact with the contaminant, which allegedly resulted in three days' difficulty in speaking. Since LSD is destroyed at baking temperatures, Albarelli posited that the LSD may have been added to the bread after baking.
Pont-Saint-Esprit is twinned with: Egelsbach
, Germany
Haverhill
, United Kingdom
Penacova
, Portugal
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Gard
Gard
Gard is a département located in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.The department is named after the River Gard, although the formerly Occitan name of the River Gard, Gardon, has been replacing the traditional French name in recent decades, even among French speakers.- History...
département in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It is situated on the Rhône River
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
and is the site of a historical crossing, hence its name. The Ardèche River
Ardèche River
The Ardèche is a 125 km long river in south-central France, a right-bank tributary of the Rhône River. Its source is in the Massif Central, near the village of Astet. It flows into the Rhône near Pont-Saint-Esprit, north-west of Orange...
flows into the Rhône, just to the north of the bridge.
Population
The residents are called Spiripontains.Bouvier family origins
Pont-Saint-Esprit is famous as the town of origin of Michel Bouvier, a cabinetmaker, who was the ancestor of John Vernou Bouvier IIIJohn Vernou Bouvier III
John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III was an American socialite and Wall Street stockbroker. He was the father of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Princess Lee Radziwill...
, father of Jacqueline Kennedy.
1951 mass poisoning
On 15 August 1951, an outbreak of poisoning, marked by acute psychotic episodesPsychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
and various physical symptoms, occurred in Pont-Saint-Esprit. More than 250 people were involved, including 50 persons interned in asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
s and 7 deaths. The foodborne illness
Foodborne illness
Foodborne illness is any illness resulting from the consumption of contaminated food, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as chemical or natural toxins such as poisonous mushrooms.-Causes:Foodborne illness usually arises from improper handling, preparation, or...
, which affected other parts of France but were the most serious in Pont-Saint-Esprit, were traced to "cursed bread" (pain maudit).
The causes of the outbreak have never been identified with certainty but several explanations have been proposed. The first hypothesis at the time was that the mass-poisoning was an outbreak of ergotism
Ergotism
Ergotism is the effect of long-term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpurea fungus which infects rye and other cereals, and more recently by the action of a number of ergoline-based drugs. It is also known as ergotoxicosis, ergot...
. Later investigations focused on mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mercury is a heavy metal occurring in several forms, all of which can produce toxic effects in high enough doses...
due to the use of Panogen or other fungicide
Fungicide
Fungicides are chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality and profit. Fungicides are used both in agriculture and to fight fungal infections in animals...
s used to treat grains and seeds. As pointed out by Simon Cotton (Chemistry Department of Uppingham School
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
), there are well-documented instances of mercury poisoning due to such products:
There was a serious epidemic in Iraq in 1956 and again in 1960, whilst use of seed wheat (which had been treated with a mixture of C2H5HgCl and C6H5HgOCOCH3) for food, caused the poisoning of about 100 people in West Pakistan in 1961. Another outbreak happened in Guatemala in 1965. Most serious was the disaster in Iraq in 1971–72, when according to official figures 459 died. Grain had been treated with methyl mercury compounds as a fungicide and should have been planted. Instead it was sold for milling and made into bread.
Nevertheless the symptoms exhibited by victims in Pont-Saint-Esprit are not entirely consistent with this hypothesis. In 1982, a French researcher pointed to Aspergillus fumigatus
Aspergillus fumigatus
Aspergillus fumigatus is a fungus of the genus Aspergillus, and is one of the most common Aspergillus species to cause disease in individuals with an immunodeficiency....
as a potential culprit. This mycotoxin
Mycotoxin
A mycotoxin is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of the fungus kingdom, commonly known as molds. The term ‘mycotoxin’ is usually reserved for the toxic chemical products produced by fungi that readily colonize crops...
is produced in grain silos.
In 2008, historian Steven Kaplan
Steven Kaplan (historian)
Steven Kaplan is the Goldwin Smith Professor of European History in the Department of History at Cornell University.His primary fields of expertise are French history and the history of food, specifically the history of bread. He earned his A.B. at Princeton University in 1963 and his M.A. in...
published Le Pain Maudit, an extensive historical account of the incident and its repercussions. The book argues that the poisoning might have been caused by nitrogen trichloride
Nitrogen trichloride
Nitrogen trichloride, also known as trichloramine, is the chemical compound with the formula NCl3. This yellow, oily, pungent-smelling liquid is most commonly encountered as a byproduct of chemical reactions between ammonia-derivatives and chlorine .In pure form, NCl3 is highly reactive...
used to artificially (and illegally) bleach flour.
CIA LSD Field Trial Theory
In his 2009 book, A Terrible Mistake, journalist Hank P. Albarelli Jr alleges that the CIA tested the use of LSD on the population of Pont-Saint-Esprit as part of its MKULTRA biological weapons program and that Frank OlsonFrank Olson
Frank Olson was a U.S. Army biological warfare specialist employed at Fort Detrick in Maryland. Believed to have committed suicide in 1953 as a result of depression, it was later revealed that he had been exposed to LSD and other psychoactive drugs as part of experiments, leading some to believe...
's involvement in and knowledge of the operation is linked to his suspicious death. Albarelli says he has found a top secret report issued in 1949 by the research director of the Edgewood Arsenal, where many US government LSD experiments were carried out, which states that the army should do everything possible to launch "field experiments" using the drug. Using Freedom of Information legislation
Freedom of information legislation
Freedom of information legislation comprises laws that guarantee access to data held by the state. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions...
, he also got hold of another CIA report from 1954. In it a representative from a Swiss chemical company, Sandoz Chemicals, which was close to Pont-Saint-Esprit and produced LSD is reported to have said, "The Pont-Saint-Esprit 'secret' is that it was not the bread at all... It was not grain ergot." According to Albarelli's thesis, the Pont-Saint-Esprit incident was intended as a precursor to a similar experiment scheduled to take place in the New York City subway system. Albarelli states that Sandoz Laboratories was covertly producing LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
for the CIA at the time and that Sandoz scientists falsely pointed the finger at ergot
Ergot
Ergot or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus Claviceps. The most prominent member of this group is Claviceps purpurea. This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals who consume grains contaminated with its...
or mercury.
Steven Kaplan has dismissed Albarelli's claims as conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
. Kaplan criticized the theory as inconsistent with both the event's timeline and the clinical manifestations of the poisoning, calling media coverage of Albarelli's book ethically dubious. Kaplan claimed that the CIA's interest in the incident was neither a surprise nor a secret, and that Project MKULTRA would have had little interest in conducting uncontrolled experiments.
Kaplan's critics counter that uncontrolled experiments were the norm under the CIA's MKULTRA program.
On 23 August 2010, UK's BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
broadcast an investigation by journalist Mike Thompson in which residents of the town, Albarelli, and multiple academics, were all interviewed. Thompson's piece covered the victims' experiences, their treatment at the time, the similarities and differences between ergot and LSD, the feasibility of overseas CIA trials, documentary evidence that 'field trials' had been recommended and that Pont Saint Esprit operative Frank Olson had been mentioned in White House documents with instructions to "bury" the information. After becoming aware of Albarelli's investigation, an 87 year old resident volunteered information that she and a local doctor believed that ergot could not have been the cause. Their view was based upon the doctor's fingertip-only contact with the contaminant, which allegedly resulted in three days' difficulty in speaking. Since LSD is destroyed at baking temperatures, Albarelli posited that the LSD may have been added to the bread after baking.
International relations
Egelsbach
Egelsbach is a community of 10,000 in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Egelsbach is one of 13 communities in the Offenbach district...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Haverhill
Haverhill, Suffolk
Haverhill is an industrial market town and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England, next to the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire. It lies southeast of Cambridge and north of central London...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Penacova
Penacova
Penacova Municipality is a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. It has a population of 16,725 and an area of 220 km2. The seat is the town of Penacova.-Parishes:* Carvalho* Figueira de Lorvão* Friúmes* Lorvão* Oliveira do Mondego* Paradela...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
External links
- Tourism office website
- Document BBC Radio 4 programme on the Le Pain Maudit