Midterm

Biological Warfare Final Project
When looking through the choices of contemporary issues, biological warfare caught my eye. This topic interested me from the get go. I was intrigued about biological warfare and felt that I could enjoy the project and learn a lot through research. According to the Federation of American Scientists, “Biological Warfare is the use of Biological pathogens as biological weapons. Biological weapons (BWs) deliver toxins and microorganisms, such as viruses and bacteria, so as to deliberately inflict disease among people, animals, and agriculture. (fas)” These attacks can do immense damage to agriculture, an economy, and humans. This is a problem because it is very hard to defend against and can be used in terrorism, known as bioterrorism.
Biological warfare has been practiced throughout history. Its three most popular forms before the 20th century were, infecting food or water, using biological weapons in a weapon system, or use of infected fabrics. Biological warfare since then has evolved into a more severe and threatening attack. Agents such as Anthrax, Small Pox, and even AIDS have now become common.
Anthrax is one of the oldest recorded diseases. Anthrax can enter the human body through the intestines (ingestion), lungs (inhalation), or skin and causes distinct clinical symptoms based on its site of entry. Smallpox has become a very common form of biological weapon. Years ago the United States and the Soviet Union began trying to harness smallpox and use it as a weapon. “The United States produced a powdered substance capable of floating through the air and infecting thousands of people. The Soviets created a liquid form of smallpox which was just as deadly. (acronym)” There have been conspiracy theories that AIDS was made by the U.S. to deal with overpopulation in our country. It has also been said that the U.S. gave it to growing countries to slow down their growth.
Biological warfare has been so serious that there have been many efforts to make the use of biological weapons in war illegal. In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a global treaty, called the Biological Weapons Convention, along with more than 100 other nations, including Iraq, banning all biological weapons. However many countries do still produce biological weapons without admitting it. According to Hank Ellison, “another problem with this treaty is that countries still have left over biological weapons from when they did produce them, and there is no easy way to destroy them without harming some living organisms.” Also, since the signing of the treaty, the number of countries capable of producing such weapons has increased substantially.
A major issue with biological warfare is the ability to use these weapons in terrorism. “According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 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. (cdc)” Biological agents can be spread through the air or through water. Terrorists uses these agents because they are hard to detect and do not cause illness for several hours to even several days. On September 18, 2001, the United States was subject to an anthrax attack. Five letters were mailed to members of the U.S. Congress and others, filled with the anthrax virus. This attack killed five people and 22 were infected. This is an example of how easy it is to administer an attack and how hard it is to defend an attack.
Not only have others used biological weapons on us, but according to an A&E documentary the U.S. has also tested biological weapons on their own citizens. They did so by using a Ford Mercury with a hidden exhaust pipe pumped out bacteria into the streets of Manhattan. They also had undercover agents with briefcases equipped with motors that dispersed the bacteria bacillus globuli, and dropped lightbulbs filled with bacteria into vents of trains to see how fast it would infect the people. For years these public experiments were kept secret however we know about it because the army faithfully documented it all.
Although biological warfare is technically illegal, it is still a threat to our lives. Many countries still produce and use biological weapons and it is near impossible to stop them. Biological attacks may not through direct war but also through terrorism. This makes biological warfare even more threatening and more of an issue.

Websites Used:
http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/bio/resource/introtobw.html
http://www.acronym.org.uk/bwc/index.htm
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/international_security/v028/28.3koblentz.html#
http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/bioter/biowarfareexpertsques.html
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1122303
http://www.acronym.org.uk/bwc/index.htm
http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php/fuseaction/home.story/story_id/999
http://www.denison.edu/offices/publicaffairs/pressreleases/alibek.html
http://cns.miis.edu/research/cbw/
http://www.cissm.umd.edu/papers/display.php?id=393
http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/terrorists-target-laboratories-for-expertise-on-nuclear-biological-weapons/
http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/smallpox.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks
http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/bio/resource/introtobw.html
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/bioterrorism/overview.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySw-0uY4CUA