Brutality of Bioterrorism and Biowarfare Essays

“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

“Bioterrorism remains a major threat for the United States despite more than $65 billion spent on protecting the country from myriad dangers, the Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center said in its latest report Wednesday. The center's Bio-Response Report Card evaluated U.S. preparedness for countering threats from bioterrorism and found the country remains vulnerable to multiple threats and "largely unprepared for a large-scale bioterrorist attack."”(UPI.com, 2011). There have been over a dozen leading U.S. bio-defense experts that have taken part in figuring out where we are exactly as a county and what the effects of a terroristic attack

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).

The fear of a Chemical or Biological attack has been a concern to many governments. These attacks, either by state agencies or individuals, have caused loss of life and the United States has not been spared in this forms of attacks.

After events such as 9/11, terrorism still instills fear into America’s population. Why? Simply because it is the one danger the American people cannot control. Biological terrorism is not always feared or worried about, but it is a genuine possibility and a lethal surprise that causes devastation. If not prepared, these deadly pathogens could easily kill large amounts of people. With tensions on the rise, what will the government or citizens do to defend themselves? If something happens, how will Americans be able to care for themselves and families? Bioterrorism is becoming a serious threat that needs to be eradicated to gain biosecurity and to ensure the safety of Americans.

A bioterrorism attack is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs (agents) used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. Bioterrorism agents can be separated into three categories, depending on how easily they can be spread and the severity of illness or death they cause. Category A agents are considered the highest risk and Category C agents are those that are considered emerging threats for disease. Bioterrorism is an issue and has been an issue for many years. This being the case every citizen and health care professional needs to be prepared for an attack. However most people are not fully prepared for a bioterrorism attack to occur. For one citizens are not educated on illnesses that could be used and they are now choosing not use countermeasures like vaccinations against the agents that would be used for a bioterrorism attack. The next issue we run into is that health care workers are not fully trained on what to do if a

As far back as the American Civil War, allegations have been made regarding the use of biological weapons. During the Civil War, both sides accused the other of using the smallpox virus to cause disease among enemy forces. (Hooker, MD, emedicinehealth.com 2014).

Bioterrorism is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents to cause illness or death in people, livestock, or crops. These agents are typically found in nature, but could be mutated or altered to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment. Bacillus anthracis is one of the most popular agents to be used in a bioterrorism attack. Anthrax could be used in many forms, for example, it can be placed into letters and mailed, much like the 2001 anthrax attack, anthrax can be released into the air where the spores can be easily blown by the wind and inhaled or can be carried around on objects such as people’s clothes to which it has

In this day and age, it is surprisingly easy to obtain or create a bomb. On the black market alone, nuclear smuggling is a 100 billion dollar industry (havocscope). Of course, bombs are deadly and nations must always be diligent in guarding against nuclear terrorist attacks, but what about smaller, more undetectable threats to our lives? There are trillions of bacteria and fungi in the world, and possibly just as many viruses. Currently the CDC lists approximately 29 potentially weaponizable biological agents, ranging from Ebola to the Nipah virus. They are rather easy to come by in nature and some of them are easily synthesized in a laboratory, such as influenza, which has the

One researcher determined that a hand full of biologists and $10,000 could be used to produce biological weapon agents. This stands in starch opposition to the amount of funding, expertise, and obstacles that terrorist would need to overcome to develop their own nuclear programs (Levi, 2007, p.1). Some states have attempted to create their own nuclear weapons; this takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars to accomplish. The materials needed are hard to acquire and special equipment is needed to make the process work. Biological agents on the other hand are, as demonstrated by the researchers assessment, are cheap and relatively easy.

Throughout the progression of mankind, there has always been a need to become superior in tactics and technology over an opponent. It did not take long for man to discover the effective and deadly tactic of Bioterrorism, which is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria or other germs used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. As time passes, everything about bioterrorism becomes more and more sophisticated, making it very difficult to combat with. By examining the history of bioterrorism, one can learn how military forces utilize this deadly weapon.

Biological weapons are being developed and pursued secretly in other countries by either individuals or groups for the purpose to incapacitate or kill humans, livestocks, or crops. In today’s world America has ignored, overlooked, and undervalued the threat of biological attacks. America has experienced biological attacks in the past but is America prepared for it? America may have experienced biological attacks, but America is not prepared for biological attacks.

Another risk that emergency personnel will face when countering or responding to a terror attack is the risk of a chemical or biological hazard being present at the scene of the incident. Chemical and biological hazards can be a result of the materials used in the bombs or can be a result of a terrorist distributing biological agents, such as bacteria or viruses. According to an article by the Centers for Disease Control, the largest bioterror attack to occur in America was orchestrated by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in which he used salmonella typhimurium to infect food at local restaurants in an effort to influence an upcoming election, thus leading to numerous illnesses (Torok, et al., 1997). This attack could have been much worse had the attacker

As discussed earlier, many biological agents such as anthrax and Ebola have negatively affected populations in a way that has scarred the scene of bioterrorism forever. As shown throughout many different bioterrorism events, the use of biological agents has been effective in their cause while causing the fear that was attempted to be achieved. Although biological agents are effective, they are too harmful to use in regular warfare. Putting the entire human race in risk of extinction, or even possibly causing an apocalyptic society, is not worth the outcome of a bioterrorism attack. While the point may be made by the terrorist, the end result may throw the entire world into a mess socially and

Bioterrorism is a deliberate release of viruses in the enemy’s territory to cause terror in a community and make the people lose faith in their government. People have been doing this for a long time, people used to just hurl barrels of poisonous snakes at their enemies and they would also send dead bodies that have died from diseases and hope that it would spread, but now it is much more advanced. Scientists fear that enemies will be able to weaponize diseases such as smallpox and Ebola to use against us and since they usually mutate the diseases they will likely be even more deadly and more likely to kill more people. I feel that no one, not even America, should use diseases to get ahead in the war.