Small quantities of monensin, an animal growth stimulant that is highly toxic to humans, were produced under the auspices of Project Coast. This was done either at Delta G Scientific, the principal South African CW research and production facility, or at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories (RRL), the main BW research, testing, and production facility. Some of this monensin, whose effects may resemble those of a heart attack, may have then been added to other items or ended up being consumed by targeted enemies.

Dr. Klaus Psotta synthesized a variety of chemical compounds, first at Delta G and later at RRL, including monensin. As with other synthesis work that he did, this may have been done at the direct request of Project Officer Wouter Basson. It is unclear what actually happened to this monensin after Psotta produced it, but if the normal pattern obtained it was probably handed over—perhaps by Dr. Mike Odendaal or Dr. James Davies—to Dr. André Immelman, RRL's R&D director. Immelman generally stored such lethal materials inside a refrigerator in a bombproof, fireproof walk-in safe in his office.

As he did with many other toxic substances, Immelman may have later transferred monensin to military and police personnel through various channels. Some of these dangerous materials were provided to Dr. R. F. Botha (alternately known as "Koos", "Mr. R", and "Frans Brink") and thence to Vernon Lange (otherwise known as "Mr. T" and "Theo"), both of whom were operatives of the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB), a covert assassination unit operating under the aegis of the Special Forces (SF). Others were provided directly to Chris Smit, Gert Otto, and Manie van Staden, three Security Branch (SB) officers from the South African Police (SAP). According to the 1989 "sales list" (TRC document 52), as well as firsthand testimony at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings or Basson's criminal trial, Immelman passed such items on, either to the aforementioned persons in innocuous public places like restaurants, or to Basson himself in the latter's office at South African Medical Services (SAMS) headquarters in Centurion. Another reported recipient of RRL's poisons was Johnny Koortzen, an ex-South African Defence Force (SADF) psychologist who in 1988 assumed control over Systems Research and Development, a company that bioengineer Jan Lourens had set up in part to manufacture special "applicators," i.e., arcane assassination devices. Some of these toxic materials and devices were subsequently used to assassinate designated "enemies of the state"—guerrillas in neighboring countries, troublesome prisoners, untrustworthy members of the security forces, or activists in the African National Congress (ANC) and other South African opposition groups.

There is no evidence that monensin was later actually used to poison anyone, but this is certainly possible given the South African penchant for using toxic substances to murder or sicken designated enemies. For example, under the rubric of "Operation Dual," a clandestine program initiated by the SADF in 1979, chemical agents were regularly used by the D[elta]40 and Barnacle units—the CCB's predecessors—to secretly eliminate prisoners and security risks. According to Johan Theron, the SADF's chief executioner, this program was sanctioned from the outset by General Fritz Loots, the first commander of the fledgling SF. With the establishment of the Teen-Rewolusionêre Inligting Taakspan (TREWITS: Counter-Revolutionary Intelligence Task Force) in the mid-1980s, the "Dual" assassination program was later expanded and coordinated at an even higher level. Despite this, Surgeon-General Niel Knobel, the titular head of the committee charged with monitoring Project Coast activities, later complained that Basson had kept him in the dark about RRL's work on monensin and various other toxic chemicals.

In 1990 President F. W. De Klerk prohibited the carrying out of any further work on lethal CBW agents, and in 1993 Project Coast was officially terminated. The stocks of standard CW agents produced by South Africa were supposedly destroyed in conformity with international agreements, despite the fact that the actual destruction process was never independently verified. Although several chemical plants there continue to produce highly toxic substances for normal industrial and agricultural use, none of these substances appear to be intended for deployment as lethal anti-personnel agents. The current government still has access to the type of technical expertise and the sort of sophisticated R&D facilities that would enable it to initiate a new CW program, but there is little reason to suppose that it has any interest in doing so.

	Updated March 2004