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Biological WMD

What weapon on this Earth is capable of wiping out millions of people instantly? The first thing mostpeople will think of is nuclear weapons, but biological weapons are an even greater threat. A viralepidemic has the potential to kill millions of people in a matter of weeks. Movies like "Outbreak" havevividly depicted the death and destruction that a virus can cause. A warring nation may intentionallyand deliberately use weapons containing viruses against their enemies. A common method of accomplishing this is to fill a missile with viruses and detonate it high above a city, spreading the virusquickly and efficiently. On a large scale, an entire population can be wiped out.

You're probably wondering why anybody would bother using missiles loaded with viruses instead of explosives. Truth is, in many cases it's much easier to kill a person by just hitting him with a bomb.The problem with this is that if you bomb the person you also bomb the house, factory, or military

installation. It leaves an enemy's country in ruins. We've seen how such devastation can actuallyhinder an invading force. In World War I, for example, Russians would intentionally burned downtheir buildings, farms, food, etc. catching the invading army without shelter and food for the upcomingwinter months. A viral weapon on the other hand, will kill the person and leave the houses, factories,and military bases alone. With no people left, an invader could then use the houses, factories, and allfor their own purposes.

Against modern Western nations, viral weapons are particularly effective. Infected people usuallywon't show symptoms for at least a few days after infection. Since people in Western nations travel alot, the virus could potentially spread its devastation over a huge area.

Viral weapons are also considerably less expensive. While it would take hundreds of scientists manyyears and millions of dollars to develop working nuclear technology, a dozen biologists with a fewhundred thousand dollars could develop a viral weapon in a matter of weeks. In addition, the weapon

could be developed and created using pharmaceutical equipment that is readily available all over theworld.

The threat of Iraq's germ warfare program has already caused a lot of trouble for the UN. They arebelieved to possess enough viral, chemical, and biological weapons to kill several hundred millionpeople.

However, Iraq's stock of viral weapons is closely watched, while those of other countries are not.Russia is having what is effectively a yard sale on all sorts of weapons, from conventional weaponsystems to rare metals. While they are not known to have sold biological or nuclear weapons, thepossibility is definitely there. Their economy has not been stable in the recent years as given exampleby the ruble crash in August of 1998. If given a choice between selling weapons or starving, mostpeople would forgo their morality for a chance to eat. Scientists in Russia earn a mere $100 per month, yet are relatively well off, suggesting possible corruption

For example, Smallpox This is the first disease to be completely eradicated from nature. It is alsothe least understood and most destructive disease in history. It is part of the orthopoxvirus genuswhich include cowpox, rabbitpox, monkeypox, amelpox, but not chickenpox (which is caused by thevaricella virus)

One droplet of exhaled moisture from an infected person contains a thousand more viruses thanneeded to infect someone.

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The first recorded attack was in ancient Egypt. The last recorded attack was in 1977. There waspossible signs of smallpox rash on the mummy of Rameses V who died in 1156 B.C. The RomanEmpire lost over 1/3 of their subjects in certain areas during a 15-year epidemic beginning 165 A.D. Itdecimated the indigenous population in America. Pocahontas died from it in 1617 during her trip toLondon. It killed Queen Marry II of England in 1694, Emperor Joseph I of Austria in 1711, King LouisXV of France in 1774, Emperor Gokwomyo of Japan in 1654, and Emperor Komei of Japan in 1867.George Washington managed to survive an attack after visiting Barbados in 1751, but it left him

scarred. 1/3 of the population of Iceland died in 1707.

The term "smallpox" was first used in Englihs in the 16th century as a translation of the French term lapetite vrole (vrole means pox).

1714, Greek physician Emanuel Timoni published an article about preventing the disease byembedding a knife into a victim's rash and then scratching it on a healthy person. This was similar tomany folk techniques known in China, India, and Western Asia. After Lady Mary Wortley Montagu,wife of an English ambassador to Turkey, in 1721 allowed Gypsy women to immunize her infant son,it became popular to do so in royal families. Of course, the king first tested it on six condemnedprisoners and 11 children.

In 1721, Cotton Mather heard about the practice from his slave and convinced other Congregationalministers to use the method since smallpox threatened to depopulate Boston. 6,000 residents got thedisease and 900 died. Only 287 were eventually immunized of which only six died. This success wasnot enough to convince most people however. It was still illegal in American colonies. People wereafraid it could start epidemics. Plus, there was no explanation was to why it should work. The processwas counter intuitive and as a result, the public remained skeptical. Ben Franklin couldn't believe thisand as a result, his four-year-old son died in the 1736 epidemic. However, John Quincy Adams wasinoculated at eight in 1775. Mozart also had smallpox. Abraham Lincoln fell ill to smallpox hours after the gettysburg address. Catherine the Great of Russia, with some pressure from Voltaire , paid anEnglish doctor 10,000 pounds and 500 pounds a year to inoculate the royal court. GeorgeWashington ordered his army to be inoculated during the revolutionary war. After that, the anti-inoculation laws were revoked.