Gay bomb

"Gay bomb" is an informal name for a theoretical non-lethal chemical weapon, which a United States Air Force research laboratory speculated about producing.

Additional recommended knowledge

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

How to ensure accurate weighing results every day?

Weighing the right way

In 1994 the Wright Laboratory in Ohio produced a three-page proposal of a variety of possible nonlethal chemical weapons, which was later obtained—complete with marginal jottings and typos—by the Sunshine Project through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In one sentence of the document it was suggested that a strong aphrodisiac could be dropped on enemy troops, ideally one which would also cause "homosexual behavior". The aphrodisiac weapon was described as "distasteful but completely non-lethal". In its "New Discoveries Needed" section, the document implicitly acknowledges that no such chemicals are actually known. The document also included many other off-beat ideas, such as spraying enemy troops with bee pheromones and then hiding numerous beehives in the combat area, and a chemical weapon that would give the enemy bad breath.

Wright Laboratory won the 2007 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for "instigating research & development on a chemical weapon—the so-called 'gay bomb'—that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other."^[1] However, Air Force personnel contacted were not willing to attend the award ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater to accept the award in person.

See also

• Homokaasu, a fictitious poisonous chemical substance
• Bremelanotide, the only known synthetic aphrodisiac
• The Nude Bomb, a 1980 comedy movie about a bomb that dissolved clothing

References

1. ^ Winners of the Ig^® Nobel Prize. Improbable Research (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-18.

• "Harassing, Annoying, and 'Bad Guy' Identifying Chemicals" (PDF). Sunshine Project. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• Smith, Michael. "Pentagon planned love bomb", Telegraph.co.uk, The Daily Telegraph, 15 January 2005. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• "US military pondered love not war", news.bbc.co.uk, BBC News, 15 January 2005. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• Bransten, Jeremy. "U.S.: Pentagon Unveils The Next Generation Of Nonlethal Weapons", GlobalSecurity.org, 30 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• Plante, Hank. "Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb'", cbs5.com, KPIX-TV, 8 June 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• Bernard, Jerome. "Pentagon once mulled 'gay bomb' to promote love not war", Daily Times, 16 June 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• "Ig Nobel awards celebrate the sillier side of science", CNN.com, CNN, 5 October 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 

• Simpson, Mark (13 June 2007). 'Armed and Amorous'. The Guardian.
• Hambrick, Greg (12 June 2007). Gay Bomb, For Real. Gay Charleston: A Charleston City Paper Blog. Charleston City Paper. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• Kay, Jonathan (12 June 2007). "Jonathan Kay on the Pentagon's plan to build a 'gay bomb': Why is this 2005 story news again?". Full Comment. National Post. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• The Gay Bomb, with parody diagram. Unknown Website Parody. Unknown Publisher (12 June 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• Hadassah's Bizzare - Electro Poetry & Absurdist Prose. Gay Bomb. Axon D'Luxe (22 November 2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-22.