Smallpox and terrorism are two similarly destructive, though normally unrelated, entities. Both causes fast mortality rate, leaving the survivals with permanent physical and psychological damages. Smallpox virus represents a potential biological weapon that could be used by terrorists. Putting these two lethal individuals into the same box could be the root of World War III. When an eminent threat such as smallpox arises, it is part of human nature to act upon fear rather than logic itself. Therefore, in this situation, destroying the clinical stockpiles would be considered the most suitable solution. Though when thinking logically, the destruction of the stocks rises many social, scientific and ethical issues. Only recently, Smallpox has been …show more content…
Over the recent years, the number of terrorist attacks has increased to a large scale, killing hundreds of innocent lives. This raised a great vulnerability state within the wold. Smallpox being used as a bioterrorism is not a new idea being introduced. Bioterrorism has occurred throughout history, “…the earliest description of what might be called bioterrorism were plagues attributed to the God of Hebrews and the Greek god Apollo” (Lutwick S & Lutwick L 2009, pp.1-15). The wants for the destruction of the stockpile will only provide an illusion of safety. By destroying the virus, it will indeed prevent the accidental release of the disease, removing any possibility that terrorist could acquire as biological weapons and eliminate the most devastating of all human pathogen. The odds of these arguments are not as valid due to the possibility of an additional potential source of the virus existing in an unknown laboratories or even in nature (Berche 2001). If an infectious disease that shaped the course of human history such as smallpox was decided to no longer be retained, the requirement for vaccines will need to be recreated, therefore leaving the world defenceless against bioterrorism (Janoff & Lynfield 2003). This is evident that stockpiles should not be destructed as it is not only beneficial against threats such as bioterrorism but it is also used for scientific