Essay on Bio Warfare

Frist of all, in the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans introduced the first use of poisonous gas. When poison gas first introduced it was a popular weapon choice and would be the weapon to change the outcome of the war. The Germans surprisingly attack the Allies, where the used lethal chloride gas against them. The gas was deadly and killed over one thousand soldiers. (1) It also allowed a significant advanced for the Germans in the war. The gas usage continued to grow throughout the war. In the end, many Allied countries started chemical weapons research. Gas warfare became common but effective actions were used to protect the troops. After World War 1, poison was use for a while but in today’s war it is no longer allowed. Instead of poisonous gas, chemical warfare is used. Chemical weapons come in a variety of forms and are used for several different techniques.

“Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Soviet Union and the United Kingdom were among many countries that investigated how to wage biological war.” (pg. 38) Some of these countries have biological weapons programs and even some biological weapons have been used in the past. A Russian program “known to the Soviets as “the Concern Bioreparat”, supposedly a series of laboratories and plants that manufactured vaccines and other medicinal products, was in fact a vast network of secret cities, production plants of Moscow’s germ effort. Bioreparat studied and perfected germs as weapons. President Richard Nixon’s administration became the “world’s leading advocate for a treaty banning germ warfare. Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention- prohibited the possession of deadly biological agents except for research…for vaccines, detection and protective gear. It was the world’s first treaty to ban an entire class of weapons.” (pg. 63) April 1979, an explosion at a secret military base near Soviet city of Sverdlovsk, sent a cloud of Bacillus anthracis fanning over a nearby village, leaving thousands dead. Although the Soviets, had signed the treaty, they denied allegations that this was “nothing more nefarious than tainted meat.” (pg. 77) During the Gulf War, for example, biological weapons developed by Iraq posed a threat and they might, if fact still pose a threat. While US went in search of nuclear

These biological agents could be viruses, toxins, bacteria, etc. Agents could be used in war or terrorist attacks. Also, they could be modified to cause extreme diseases and disorders, according to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It makes bioterrorism even more tempting to use as it is easy and inexpensive to produce, disseminate and can cause a more widespread panic than other acts of terrorism (1).

Trench warfare was done by opposing army’s creating trenches. In between those trenches was an area known as “no man's land” and was the most dangerous place to be. This tactic lead to many standoffs and also extremely high numbers of casualties in a short period of time. One of the most efficient ways of winning these battles was chemical warfare. All that needed to happen was to throw a chemical bomb into the enemy's trench and then wait.

To protect against chemical warfare, gas masks became standard issue among both Allied and German forces. Although chemical warfare was banned in the 1925 by the Geneva Protocol, it is still used in some wars

Chemical Warfare is defined as “Tactical warfare using incendiary mixtures, smokes, or irritant, burning or asphyxiating gases”. This is the usage of a chemical to harm the opposing side in order to get an advantage in the war at hand. Three of the main chemical weapons used during World War 1 were Lachrymator (tear), Chlorine and Phosgene, and Mustard gas. Chemical warfare was overall effective in World War 1 because it added to the weaponry needed to win the war.

In many cases, war is fought in order to gain something. It could be territory, or wealth, or power, but in some cases it is fought simply to kill. A type of warfare that exemplifies this is chemical and biological warfare. These attacks are aimed simply at killing everybody. In addition, most people think of biological warfare as a very recent war tactic, dating back not much further than agent orange, deployed in Vietnam. In fact, one of the first and one of the most devastating instances of biological warfare occurred much earlier, in 1347. This was the attack that brought the black plague from it’s origins in western Asia to Europe through Caffa, a city on the modern Crimean peninsula.

wells with ergot, a fungus that grows on rye wheat, causing the enemies to hallucinate after ingesting the

In the article a quote from chemist, James Conant, expressed that to him “the development of new and more gases seemed no more immoral than the manufacture of explosives and guns … All war is immoral.” I could not agree more with this statement. I believe that such biological weapons should be outlawed because to me any weapon is

On April 22, in the Second Battle of Ypres, in World War 1 (WWI), the first chemical weapon was used. After over 101 years of this dilemma, the world has yet to find a solution for the pressing issue of chemical weapons as a threat to international security. Chemical weapons are highly toxic and are made to expose radiation and consequently kill living organisms. There are many types of these deadly gases, hence many different effects on people. These include brain damage, skin rashes/damage, and asphyxiation. After WWI, the Geneva Protocol was created in 1925; this banned the use of chemical weapons in any conflict. It was signed by most of the countries with the resources to create such weapons, but not all countries signed it. Later, in 1993, the Chemical Weapon Convention (CWC), also called the Convention on the

Medicine is closely intertwined with warfare. World War II was the impetus for the industrial production of penicillin. Although the chemical was discovered in 1928, wartime governments desired its antibiotic properties to heal soldiers. Penicillin was an upgrade to previously used antibiotics, its manufacturing process was revolutionary, and it caused implications in patent rights.

There are many repercussions to not having a biological weapon. If we cannot reinstate chemical warfare, we will continue to lose many soldiers’ lives. Having chemical weapons is like when we came out with the UCAV. The UCAV stands for unmanned combat aerial vehicle. The UCAV got rid of the loss of lives in the air. It made bombing targets easier. With chemical weapons, we could eliminate thousands of war related deaths. If

These are just a few examples of many accounts of the use of chemical and biological agents in war.

Since the Geneva Protocol only banned use of these weapons, and the weapons were so strong, several countries developed these lethal chemical weapons and stored them in surplus. But soon, laws came into place to stop that also. The Biological Weapons Convention was developed by the British and was functionable in March of 75. This was during the cold war era in fear of the lethal weapons regaining popularity.The BWC prohibited manufacturing and storing the weapons. There was also the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which forced the destruction of currently stored chemical weapons.

“The hearts and mind (HAM) theory is identified as winning the hearts and minds of the population which is a technique based on the implementation of the counter-insurgency (COIN) strategy of persuading the population to support the government and reject the insurgents.” The counter-insurgency (COIN) strategy as outlined by President Obama and General Petraeus’s most closely embrace is the heart and minds (HAM) theory. President Obama speech identified the United States strategic approach with Afghanistan in three elements. The three core elements addressed by President Obama during his speech on the strategy in Afghanistan are identified as: 1) utilize the military effort to create conditions for transition, 2) a civilian surge that