With the onset of globalization, diseases can spread across the globe in a matter of days. Even in the past when one could not travel from one continent to another in one day, pandemics were prevalent, for one reason or another. It could be due to the strength of the virus strain itself, it could be that the conditions in which a population or group lives in make the perfect breeding ground for such viruses to thrive, or it could be a combination of both.
However, with such great advances in technology and medicine, many pandemics have been eradicated or at least come under control, at least for developed countries. Cholera, one epidemic which took millions of lives worldwide, not just once, but five times. During the first World War, more people were hospitalised due to contracting the avian flu than from sustaining injuries in the war. Of course, science still has its limits – medicine has never been able to overtake or even catch up with viruses. It has been unable to completely combat the flu virus (which constantly mutates into new forms), among many others, and some have taken advantage of this.
The roots of biological warfare go all the way back to the ancient Roman civilization. Soldiers dipped their arrows in poison, and dead and rotting animals were thrown into wells to poison and contaminate the drinking water supply of the enemies. In the 15th century, smallpox was used on contaminated clothing to defeat South and Native American invaders (Bock: 2001) During the second World War, the Japanese had planned to burst open bombs at low altitude over California, releasing millions of fleas contaminated with the bubonic plague, but it was never carried out for the Japanese navy instead gave priority to launching kamikaze attacks in defense of their own islands (Sernau 2006: 162). The consequences would be unimaginable if the Japanese had went ahead and realized their plans – not only will be millions and millions of Americans be infected with the highly contagious plague, the USA would have plunged into political and economic turmoil. With so many suddenly infected overnight, there will be widespread panic and the economy would cease to function, let alone thrive. The world would be very different from how it is now – the Americans definitely would not have been able to play the role of a political and economic figure at the end of the war – that is if the war would have even ended that way it would, with the United States and their allies as the victors.
Since then, bioterrorism has emerged from biological warfare. In 1984, the residents of The Dalles, Oregon, were experiencing the first bioterrorist attack in the United States. Members of the Rajneeshee, a Buddhist cult devoted to beauty, love and guiltless sex, infected salad bars at eleven restaurants and products in supermarkets with salmonella strains. They also managed to infect a judge, a district attorney, a doctor and dentist. Altogether, 751 people became very sick as a result – although there were no fatalities – so that the cult could seize the government by packing booths with imported homeless people, while making citizens too sick to vote.
In 2001, there was widespread panic all across the United States as 22 people were made ill – 5 of which died – by an anthrax attack. Anthrax spores were distributed via letters sent to media organizations and political offices. Postal facilities in Washington D.C were shut down for almost 2 years as a result, and the culprit (who committed suicide when informed of his impending arrest) was not identified until early this year. Even then, the motives of the culprit were not known.
The primary suspect was a scientist who worked at the government’s defense labs, but the FBI were pressured by the White House to prove that the attacks were a second wave of assault by the Al-Qaeda. This not only shows how easy it is to gain access to and disseminate biological and chemical weapons, but that such bioterrorism can be done by anyone – that person responsible for it does not have to be a renowned terrorist. It also showed that nobody could be completely insusceptible to bioterrorism – there is always a chance of being caught off-guard, especially when bioterrorism is so insidious and difficult to detect. It could happen to anybody at anytime, and it is probably more dangerous and fatal than any other form of terrorism, for anyone could be the terrorist, given that some of these agents used are readily available as household items. Bioterrorism indeed is the form of terrorism which the world needs to take guard against.
Bioterrorism
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