Biological Warfare Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Disgruntled students may become motivated to carry out ricin attacks on University of California campuses. The poison has already been discovered on several US campuses, signaling that it is easy to obtain, and increased tensions between... more

Disgruntled students may become motivated to carry out ricin attacks on University of California campuses. The poison has already been discovered on several US campuses, signaling that it is easy to obtain, and increased tensions between students and school administrators, as well as the proliferation of jihadist propaganda online, indicate a growing threat of its use in universities. Options should be explored to mitigate this risk.

The Republic of China on the island of Taiwan has experienced at least 20 terrorist events since 1979, including 13 aircraft hijackings and five bombings. Factors responsible for the relatively small burden of terrorism on Taiwan in the... more

The Republic of China on the island of Taiwan has experienced at least 20 terrorist events since 1979, including 13 aircraft hijackings and five bombings. Factors responsible for the relatively small burden of terrorism on Taiwan in the past include tight military control over political dissent until 1987, a warming relationship with the People's Republic of China in the 1990s, political inclusion of major internal cultural groups, geographic isolation, and a lack of other significant international enemies. Nevertheless, today Taiwan faces a new prospect of terrorism by adversaries of the United States and its allies and by an international paradigm shift in the types of weapons used by terrorists. National emergency management has been enhanced significantly since the Ji Ji earthquake in 1999, including the assignment of lead government agencies to the planning and preparedness for specific types of terrorist events involving nuclear, biological, and/or chemical releases. Other...

Terrorism is an increasing feature of the World Scene. In the UK, our perspective has changed from a largely Ireland focused one to a more international view. The United States of America are, for the first time, seen as major terrorist... more

Terrorism is an increasing feature of the World Scene. In the UK, our perspective has changed from a largely Ireland focused one to a more international view. The United States of America are, for the first time, seen as major terrorist targets. We are now "at war with terrorism". The medical aspects of terrorism have been extensively discussed in this journal and elsewhere, this article specifically addresses the psychological consequences of the use of terror weapons.

California/Mil bank Books on Health and the Public 1. The Corporate Practice of Medicine: Competition and Innova- tion in Health Care, by James C. Robinson 1. Experiencing Politics: A Legislator's Stories of Government and Health, by... more

California/Mil bank Books on Health and the Public 1. The Corporate Practice of Medicine: Competition and Innova- tion in Health Care, by James C. Robinson 1. Experiencing Politics: A Legislator's Stories of Government and Health, by ...

This all hazards project will explore “The Threat of Argoterrorism.” The project will define argoterrorism as an operational term for all levels of government services and the practical term relevant to the general population. The... more

This all hazards project will explore “The Threat of Argoterrorism.” The project will define argoterrorism as an operational term for all levels of government services and the practical term relevant to the general population. The project will explore how real the threat of argoterrorism may be and the likelihood of such an attack taking place. The project will breakdown the nexus of argoterrorism and in what capacity it will affect its intended targets, directly, secondarily, and indirectly.
The project will discuss the roles of the government and private sectors and their perspective emergency management cycles of preparation, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, in terms of how they each will execute their plan of action through strategic partnerships, interoperability, and incident management. The project will analyze a command structure for an incident involving argoterrorism and discuss lessons learned from previous successful or failed attempts, or practical exercises of argoterrorism.
The project will examine the actual threat of argoterrorism, the likely or expected perpetrators of this threat, and their methods and resources to execute this threat successfully, and what would need to be implemented to thwart an argoterrorism critical incident from materializing, and if the United States is ultimately prepared to endure an argoterrorism attack.

A panel discussion in Bangla on the issues of chemical or bio-war and traditional war that entail grand depopulation project. The panellists are discussing the pros and cons of the death industry as introduced by the big pharma companies... more

A panel discussion in Bangla on the issues of chemical or bio-war and traditional war that entail grand depopulation project. The panellists are discussing the pros and cons of the death industry as introduced by the big pharma companies and arms and ammunition sellers. A debate was initiated by the panellists on the utility and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. One Psychoanalyst also discussed the mental disorders during the lockdown years, following DSM-5, though that model was challenged by another panellist.

This seminar work presents the new emerging global threat - the ethnobiological warfare. Using the knowledge in DNA manipulation can lead to many peaceful objectives, but on the same time can be used for a new generation of biological... more

This seminar work presents the new emerging global threat - the ethnobiological warfare. Using the knowledge in DNA manipulation can lead to many peaceful objectives, but on the same time can be used for a new generation of biological warfare. Because of its nature of stealthy and selectivity, it may be considered as much worse threat than the "conventional" nuclear weapon. [Written in Hebrew].

The present volume reviews and analyzes current research and likely future developments in the life sciences and how they will significantly influence the biological material available to warfighters--not as weapons systems, but as... more

The present volume reviews and analyzes current research and likely future developments in the life sciences and how they will significantly influence the biological material available to warfighters--not as weapons systems, but as augmentation to currently available equipment. This is the "new" face of biological warfare. The editors of this volume have assembled experts in research, warfighting, and defense policy to describe biological applications from the smallest to the largest scale. In addition, they show how thinking in biological terms can improve our procurement cycle and enhance our development time and costs. Finally, no description of biotechnology would be complete without a consideration of ethical and legal issues related to such research and development. This edited book is an important contribution to the literature and nicely captures a number of ongoing military basic science research projects with long-term implications for the Department of Defense.

Biological weapons achieve their intended target effects through the infectivity of disease-causing infectious agents. The ability to use biological agents in warfare is prohibited by the Biological and Toxin Weapon Convention.... more

Biological weapons achieve their intended target effects through the infectivity of disease-causing infectious agents. The ability to use biological agents in warfare is prohibited by the Biological and Toxin Weapon Convention. Bioterrorism is defined as the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria or other agents used to cause illness or death in people, but also in animals or plants. It is aimed at creating casualties, terror, societal disruption, or economic loss, inspired by ideological, religious or political beliefs. The success of bioterroristic attempts is defined by the measure of societal disruption and panic, and not necessarily by the sheer number of casualties. Thus, making only a few individuals ill by the use of crude methods may be sufficient, as long as it creates the impact that is aimed for. The assessment of bioterrorism threats and motives have been described before. Biocrime implies the use of a biological agent to kill or make ill a single individual or small g...

Drawing on an inquiry into Israel's preparedness for biological threats, in this article I suggest a new analysis of biosecurity events. A complex and dynamic assemblage emerges to prepare for biological threats, one that I call a... more

Drawing on an inquiry into Israel's preparedness for biological threats, in this article I suggest a new analysis of biosecurity events. A complex and dynamic assemblage emerges to prepare for biological threats, one that I call a “pre-event configuration.” The assemblage is composed of three core elements—the scientific element, the security element, and the public health element—each of which diagnoses threats and suggests appropriate solutions. This configuration also determines what will be perceived as an event for which preparation is needed and what will remain a nonevent. I maintain that the constitution of an event takes place beyond the actual time of its occurrence and is determined by the pre-event configuration in the “time of event.” Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of events should combine an examination of actual events and their aftermath with an inquiry into their potentialities as determined by the pre-event configuration. [biosecurity, preparedness, events, disasters]

The use of biological agents has generally been confined to military-led conflicts. However, there has been an increase in non-state-based terrorism, including the use of asymmetric warfare, such as biological agents in the past few... more

The use of biological agents has generally been confined to military-led conflicts. However, there has been an increase in non-state-based terrorism, including the use of asymmetric warfare, such as biological agents in the past few decades. Thus, it is becoming increasingly important to consider strategies for preventing and preparing for attacks by insurgents, such as the development of pre- and post-exposure medical countermeasures. There are a wide range of prophylactics and treatments being investigated to combat the effects of biological agents. These include antibiotics (for both conventional and unconventional use), antibodies, anti-virals, immunomodulators, nucleic acids (analogues, antisense, ribozymes and DNAzymes), bacteriophage therapy and micro-encapsulation. While vaccines are commercially available for the prevention of anthrax, cholera, plague, Q fever and smallpox, there are no licensed vaccines available for use in the case of botulinum toxins, viral encephalitis, melioidosis or ricin. Antibiotics are still recommended as the mainstay treatment following exposure to anthrax, plague, Q fever and melioidosis. Anti-toxin therapy and anti-virals may be used in the case of botulinum toxins or smallpox respectively. However, supportive care is the only, or mainstay, post-exposure treatment for cholera, viral encephalitis and ricin – a recommendation that has not changed in decades. Indeed, with the difficulty that antibiotic resistance poses, the development and further evaluation of techniques and atypical pharmaceuticals are fundamental to the development of prophylaxis and post-exposure treatment options. The aim of this review is to present an update on prophylaxis and post-exposure treatment recommendations and research initiatives for biological agents in the open literature from 2007 to 2009.

Usage of natural toxins during armed conflict has very long history. Mithridates, king of Pontus, in 1ST century BC, has used miel fou- honey from Rhododendron ponticum –laxative and psychoactive agent, versus Roman army. Pasteur and... more

Usage of natural toxins during armed conflict has very long history. Mithridates, king of Pontus, in 1ST century BC, has used miel fou- honey from Rhododendron ponticum –laxative and psychoactive agent, versus Roman army. Pasteur and Koch, microbiology pioneers, has discovered in XIX c. methods of in vitro bacteria culture. Shortly after army has started use them to create germ warfare. Biological warfare might be divide by virtue of pathogen potential: pathogens with high virulence and death rate, used in past in armed combat(A), pathogens with average virulence and mortality(B), pathogens which could be used in military purposes after genetic modification(C).
Creation of new sort of bioweapons aids stirring dangerous strains of antimicrobial resistance bacteria. For example discovered in 2015 strain of Escherichia Coli where scientists found mcr1 –all antibiotic resistance gene.On attention deserve neurotoxins producing by algae e.g.maitotoxin or tetrodotoxin and bacillus-Clostridium-tetanospasmin and botulinum toxin. Culture of the foregoing organisms is quite simple. Peculiar danger, might be used as bioweapon, are samples of eradicated pathogens(e.g.Variola Vera).Stored in laboratories in US and Russia could be any time now used to cause unpredictable pandemic.

SUMMARY The specter of bioterrorism has captured the attention of government and military officials, scientists, and the general public. Compared to other sectors of the population, clinical microbiologists are more directly impacted by... more

SUMMARY The specter of bioterrorism has captured the attention of government and military officials, scientists, and the general public. Compared to other sectors of the population, clinical microbiologists are more directly impacted by concerns about bioterrorism. This review focuses on the role envisioned for clinical laboratories in response to a bioterrorist event. The microbiology and clinical aspects of the biological agents thought to be the most likely tools of bioterrorists are presented. The historical background of the problem of bioterrorism and an overview of current U.S. preparedness planning, with an emphasis on the roles of health care professionals, are also included.

Many viruses may cause encephalitis. Three such viruses of the Alpha genus (Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE), Western equine encephalitis (WEE) and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE)) may be used as biological warfare agents. The... more

Many viruses may cause encephalitis. Three such viruses of the Alpha genus (Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE), Western equine encephalitis (WEE) and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE)) may be used as biological warfare agents. The clinical course of the diseases caused by these viruses is not specific, and resembles a broad range of bacterial and viral diseases. Several attenuated and inactivated vaccines were developed, but their efficacy in the biological warfare scenario is questionable. There is no effective drug therapy for the treatment of these diseases, and treatment is mainly supportive. Several VEE outbreaks were reported in humans and horses in South America and southern United States. This virus usually causes a febrile illness, which might be complicated with encephalitis, mainly in the cases of children and elderly patients. The EEE virus causes the most severe form of disease, with severe encephalitis and high proportion of sequel. It is prevalent mainly in the east...

The plague pandemic that hit central and western Asia, the Mediterranean societies and western and northern Europe in the middle of the 14th century features in all present-day historical narratives of chemical and biological warfare. To... more

The plague pandemic that hit central and western Asia, the Mediterranean societies and western and northern Europe in the middle of the 14th century features in all present-day historical narratives of chemical and biological warfare. To many writers those events underscore the potential of massive destruction in terms of both human and economic losses to societies. They also tend to ascribe the pandemic’s origin to a specific deed, namely the catapulting of diseased bodies into the Crimean town of Caffa by Mongol besiegers in 1346. Fleeing citizens carried what became known as the ‘Black Death’ to Mediterranean ports from where it spread throughout continental Europe and North Africa. The pandemic may have killed up to two-thirds of the European population.
Reconstruction of circumstances surrounding this allegation of historical biological warfare is challenging. For instance, was the medieval pandemic caused by the plague, and if not, what are the implications for the narrative of biological warfare? In the final years of the 20th century some authors began questioning whether ‘plague’ in the sense of the disease caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium was responsible for the medieval pandemic and subsequent outbreaks. The scepticism was not new: several 18th and 19th-century writers had already noted divergencies in descriptions of symptoms as recorded in different places or times. However, it faded with the discovery of the causative bacterium and the roles played by rats and fleas in the plague ecology and transmission. This breakup of the early 20th-century consensus pitted academics from multiple disciplines against each other for more than a decade. Advancements in molecular biology, genome studies and paleobiology combined with new approaches to studying contemporary records and narratives opened a possible path towards a new consensus. Yet, fresh findings in the late 2010s, such as strong pointers to an extinct strain of Yersinia pestis in an old southern French reservoir, may once more challenge accepted and emerging narratives of the medieval plague. Notwithstanding, all new evidence in these debates invites reconsideration of the Black Death’s biological warfare origins. It increasingly appears likely that a fast-spreading pestilence overtook Caffa and its environs.
While the new insights may have mooted the biological warfare question, writers broadly referencing the history of biological weapon use are given to mentioning the Caffa siege in passing. This comes because the contextual factors of the siege of Caffa, the tactics deployed by the Mongols and the city defenders, or the military hardware in the field have not been subjected to the same level of scrutiny as the biological origins of the pandemic. Mark Wheelis, a professor in microbiology, seems to have written the final consolidative view on events in the Late Middle Ages in 2002. Considering the scientific debate on the plague’s origins, he concluded that ‘the claim that biological warfare was used at Caffa is plausible and provides the best explanation of the entry of plague into the city. This theory is consistent with the technology of the times and with contemporary notions of disease causation; however, the entry of plague into Europe from the Crimea likely occurred independent of this event’. In an earlier chapter on biological warfare before the First World War, he described in more detail other incidents involving the projection of human bodies and animal carcasses over fortifications during medieval and early modern age sieges in Europe, thereby lending additional credence to the overall Caffa narrative while being critical of certain specific claims.
This first issue of Historical Notes explores the origin of the biological warfare allegation involving plague-infested corpses catapulted over the walls of Caffa. The working paper forms part of a chapter on chemical and biological warfare from the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century in a broader ongoing historical study.

A growing gap of distrust exists between the people and Western public health systems that grow more complex and antagonistic with each passing year. This distrust and antagonism has greatly accelerated with the arrival of a newly... more

A growing gap of distrust exists between the people and Western public health systems that grow more complex and antagonistic with each passing year. This distrust and antagonism has greatly accelerated with the arrival of a newly declared pandemic through the global proliferation of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and its new disease, COVID-19. The public health system relentlessly blames internet misinformation and conspiracy theories for the distrust, while much of the public cites a much deeper history and track record of medical incompetence, malpractice, corporate and political motivations, corruption, and years of dishonesty by the public health system that has been steadily unravelling for many decades with the rise of chronic disease predating the arrival of the internet. The science and medical industrial complex is rooted in a complex network of interrelationships both official and informal that function like a bureaucracy. These structures naturally bring together problematic elements such as egoic drives based on reputation, profiteering, political agendas, policy, prestige, peer-pressure, political correctness, corruption, intelligence, espionage, and many other obstacles that when left to fester and accumulate within such structures, will undoubtedly work in opposition to its initially-stated purpose of maintaining the health and well-being of its people. This paper will address some of the more intrinsic, causal factors that more appropriately address why so few trust the public health system, institutionalized science, and the medical industrial complex.

Since 11 September 2001 and the anthrax attacks that followed in the US, public and policy concerns about the security threats posed by biological weapons have increased significantly. With this has come an expansion of those activities... more

Since 11 September 2001 and the anthrax attacks that followed in the US, public and policy concerns about the security threats posed by biological weapons have increased significantly. With this has come an expansion of those activities in civil society deemed as potential sites for applying security controls. This paper examines the assumptions and implications of national and international efforts in one such area: how a balance or integration can take place between security and openness in civilian biomedical research through devising professional codes of conduct for scientists. Future attempts to establish such codes must find a way of reconciling or at least addressing dilemmatic and tension-ridden issues about the appropriateness of research; a topic that raises fundamental questions about the position of science within society.

Disease is a force that shaped the world, with mortality exceeding war even in the 20th Century. The since the turn of the 20th Century, biological warfare includes religious fanatics being the sole executors of intentional biological... more

Disease is a force that shaped the world, with mortality exceeding war even in the 20th Century. The since the turn of the 20th Century, biological warfare includes religious fanatics being the sole executors of intentional biological attacks with the exception of WWII Japan. A framework and strategy for surveillance and response is laid out with an emphasis on medicine as the primary detector and response system.