Botulinum Donkey Test Misled Officials

During World War II, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services explored using botulinum toxin as a weapon, including a plan in which Chinese prostitutes would slip toxin capsules to Japanese officers. The capsules reached China, but a Navy detachment tested them on donkeys, and the animals survived, so officials scrapped the plan. Researchers later discovered that those donkeys had an unusual resistance to botulism, rendering the test results misleading. The same toxin later moved from biowarfare research into medicine, eventually becoming the basis for Botox treatments.

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