Why Are Biological Weapons Bad

People will do almost anything to win or achieve their goals and that is sometimes a good thing. However, there have been instances where people have taken the idea to the extreme. So extreme that it was even banned at the end of World War 1 at the Geneva Convention. The topic is Biological Warfare. This type of warfare uses toxins or contagious agents instead of using guns and explosives. Toxins and agents such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. All of them are different things and have different effects but all have the same goal, and that is to disable or kill humans, animals, and plants to win the war. This warfare is cruel and inhumane and should never be used by anyone. If anyone did they should be punished severely. Why shouldn’t we use this? Well one example is World War 1.

With Biological Weapons had no evidence of such agent that was deployed and they were also designed to kill rapidly in minutes and had no fatalities that could attribute to the weapon. (Illness) Chemical Weapons had some concerns because it was known for fatalities. With Chemical Weapons you had cancer. Over 125,000 U.S. troops and 9,000 UK, troops were exposed to nerve gas and mustard gas when Iraq was bombed in 1991. (News-Medical)

Bioterrorism is purposefully releasing biological agent toxins to cause harm and terrorize people. Bioterrorism was first thought of somewhere in the 1340’s, this was when diseased horse corpses were catapulted over castle walls in France. Germ warfare was also used in the medieval times in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; human bodies were infected with the plague and used as ammunition in central Europe. During World War I Germany had attempted to infect the Allies using anthrax through livestock, which they failed in doing. By Germany attempting this it caused for Geneva Protocol, this is the restriction of chemical and biological weapons being used during war. However, the first bioterrorism occurred in the 1984 in the United States, members of the cult ha sprinkled salmonella on salad bars around Wasco County. There were 750 cases of food poisoning and another 45 cases of people being hospitalized. Many terrorist prefer to use biological agents instead of any other weapon for a few reasons that are; they can easily get there hands on them, they are inexpensive, it is hard to detect, they are easy to make and deliver.

Yes, it could happen. In the remainder of this paper, I will consider whether such an incident of catastrophic biological terrorism will occur, who is likely to perpetrate it, what agents they are likely to employ, to what end they may do so, and what technical capabilities will be required. I will focus on independantly motivated terrorism, as state-sponsorship lies beyond the scope of this paper and my research.

It seems to me that the most realistic threat to our nation is that of a Biological Weapon [BW].

In 1984, members of the Rajneeshee, a Buddhist cult, created the biological agent salmonella and contaminated the salad bar at Shakey's Pizza in The Dalles, Ore. They also contaminated blue-cheese dressing, table-top coffee creamers and potato salads at 10 local restaurants and a supermarket. They poured it into a glass of water and handed it to a judge. They used the biological agent against the district attorney, a doctor, and a dentist. Their plan was to seize control of the county government by packing polling booths with imported homeless people while making local residents too sick to vote (Time 2001, para.1). That attack was a practice run for a massive attempt to incapacitate Oregon voters by slipping bacteria into the water supply (NY Daily News 2013, para. 18). Is this a biological agent a threat to our homeland today, or not?

The use of biological weapons first started many years ago, it has been detected as far back as 10,000 BCE. Where hunters would use poisonous arrows to fired into the target. Biological agents were also used in World War I, by the Germans infecting the Allies horses and cattle with various microbes on both the western and eastern fronts ( ). Even though biological weapons were used for many years, it does not justify their used. Biological weapons can cause mass deaths, and they can widespread pandemics. A terrorist organization or country that want to cause injuries and death to civilian s might feel like they can justified their use of biological weapons, because they have five different categories of biological agents that they can

Why would I consider a biological weapon of mass destruction more probable? A biological attack is the “…intentional release of a pathogen or bio toxin….against humans plants or animals…” (Forest & Howard, 2013, p. 113). These pathogens and bio toxins are intentionally released because they can cause economic catastrophe, illness, deaths, fear, and even disruption to normal day practices. Another advantage is that these weapons are silent killers; several people may be infected before it’s even found.

According to Abramson (2012), “The likelihood of a State actor obtaining and possessing a biological warfare capability remains highly relevant, partly because the processes used in developing biological agents are also found in such innocuous

In today’s modern society, natural disasters, war, and diseases all cause havoc on the human species. War and other civil conflicts are one of the biggest problems in some parts of the country. With war, any sort of weapon is able to be used, even though the United Nations have put up international laws forbidding certain types of weapons. One of these laws, outlaws the use of biological warfare. There has been many famous examples of biological warfare in America’s history. Bioterrorism is related to biological warfare, but they also have many differences. Bioterrorism is used mainly to induce fear and cause the disruption of modern societies and governments by using bacteria, viruses, or other germs to attack people or livestock. This form

Bioterrorism refers to biological agents (microbes or toxins) used as weapons to further personal or political agendas. Acts of bioterrorism range from a single exposure directed at an individual by another individual to government-sponsored biological warfare resulting in mass casualties. (CDC) The way that bioterrorism happens is that there is a deliberate release of germs or other biological substances that can cause individuals to become sick. This attack happens internally rather than externally. According to Centers for disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “ In the U.S., the risk of contracting anthrax is extremely low. The intentional release of anthrax following the events of 9/11 resulted in only twenty-two recognized cases of cutaneous

Biological warfare may wipe out human existence and all signs of life on this earth, but we have no say. The United States has the strongest military defence force in the world which also makes them more empower than any other country. The United States is so advanced they have man made biological weapons ready to send off at the commander’s command. ISIS has the power to attack any country they wanted to with a Biological Weapon causing destruction and panic. Most military defences have a Biological defence laboratories where they test all their bioweapons. America has been seen testing biological weapons in public to check if they were effective, this has questioned many people making them think that biological warfare and biological terrorism

A large amount of countries have started or continued offensive biological weapons research and development . as well, since the 1980s, terrorist groups have become users of biological agents due to there high effectiveness and cheap price. Usually, these cases amount only to hoaxes. However, the following exceptions have been noted: In 1985, Iran began an offensive biochemical weapons program involving anthrax, Botulinum toxin, and Aflatoxin. (Schnieder, 2015)

hnology can be defined as using living organism or their components to change or create material for specialized use. Biotechnology is a relatively new term but it has been used for centuries in a variety of civilizations (Gossett & Kähler, 2014). The field of molecular biology has drastically progressed the field of biotechnology essentially operating on higher order of magnitude than our ancestors. With more knowledge of genetic material and metabolic functions, scientists have been capable of extraordinary feats from gene therapy to genomic sequencing. The advancements in biotechnology and in other research areas has also increased the potential misuse of scientific research that could be used to harm humanity and the world instead of help it. This concept has been dubbed dual-use research and defined to be technology that could be used for general public and combat purposes (Rath et al., 2014). The possible usage of biological weapons (BW) has increased with growing technology and disputes amongst nations. The use of genetic engineering has greatly opened opportunities for specifically generated weapons to be produced. The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) has stopped production and storage of BW but select parties are permitted to study and perform research on potential BW as long as it’s for neutral or beneficial objectives (Biological Weapons Convention, 2001). These conditions have inflicted major concern within the general public and inaugurated major ethical

There are various agents used in biological warfare. The U.S. Military defines these agents as "those biological pathogens and toxins that are intended for use during military operations to cause death and disease among