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Forms Of Bioterrorism

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Bioterrorism is the use of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses and fungi) or toxins by terrorist or extremists groups to produce weapons which cause death and disease among humans, animals and plants. Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against person, animals or property to intimidate or coerce a government or civilian population to gain political or social objectives (CDC, 2013). The use of biological agents to cause harm or death is not a new concept; countries have been engaging in bioterrorism for hundreds of years. Bioterrorism dates back to the 14th century, when cadavers were dropped into enemy wells to poison the drinking water. Similarly bioterrorism occurred during the French and Indian War, when Native Americans were …show more content…

During the 6th century BC, the Assyrians poisoned enemy wells with a fungus that would render the enemy delirious. The advent of the germ theory of disease and advances in microbiological techniques brought a new level of sophistication to the theoretical use of bio-agents in war. Biological sabotage in the form of anthrax and glanders were undertaken on behalf of the Imperial German government during World War I (1914–1918), with indifferent results (Christophor, 2013). Bio-weapons, their status pre-world wars (I and …show more content…

As WW I saw the large-scale use of non-conventional chemical weapons, it was expected that WW II would see more extensive use of biological weapons. During this war, many countries conducted research programmes to develop bio-weapons; the Japanese programme to produce a bio-weapon, was considered as the most ambitious (1892-1959). The research in this direction started in 1928; when Lieutenant general (Lt. Gen.) Ishii visited many European and American countries to learn useful techniques and information about the possible uses of biological weapons. Upon returning to his homeland, he was provided a substantial grant in order to constitute a massive bioweapons research centre, known as the Unit 731, located at Beiyinhe in Manchuria. The research centre staffed over 3,000 scientists, mainly microbiologists. The experiments were conducted on prisoners of war, principally Koreans, Chinese and Russian soldiers. The prisoners were used to test numerous bioweapons, including Yersinia pestis, Vibrio cholera, Neisseria meningitides and Bacillus anthracis (Leitenberg, 2001). During this research, several thousand prisoners died as a result of the experiments conducted on them. However, the mortality rate around the area of Unit 731

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They were put in cells the size of dog kennels, starved, dehydrated, used as test subjects for experiments in biological and chemical warfare, and beaten on the daily (187).

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Unlike the previous disease, dysentery was uncontrollable and rampant aboard prison ships. In Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine Reiss explores the effects of typhus, scabies, and malaria. Reiss notes that all three of these diseases affected the army while in camp or in hospitals. These diseases affect the army greatly especially scabies in Valley Forge, which if left untreated and allowed to become infected a simple itch can turn

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The Army went to great lengths to safeguard the health of its prisoners as mandated in the Geneva Convention. Of immediate concern was preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Shortly after arriving at his first POW camp in America, each prisoner received a complete physical exam. It included vaccinations against smallpox, typhoid, paratyphoid, and tetanus. At least once a month thereafter, Army medical corps officers inspected the prisoners for communicable diseases and vermin infestation.67 At Camp Cooke, POWs with minor medical problems were treated at the camp infirmary.

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This lead to malnutrition and death because of the low food quality. Diseases were rampant around the camp. Dysentery, malaria dropsy, diarrhea, scurvy, consumption, bronchitis, pneumonia, and smallpox were common causes of death among the camp(Kohn). The diseases made the conditions even worse because sick prisoners would spread diseases and lower the bar for living conditions. These diseases were probably contracted because the river used for drinking was often clogged up with feces and other waste.

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In her article “The Attack,” Judith Miller describes the events leading to and of the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack, which affected approximately one thousand individuals and a total of seven hundred and fifty one confirmed persons in the city The Dalles, Oregon. Miller’s story unfolds as she begins a few years prior to the attack: In Wasco County, 1981, not too far from The Dalles, Oregon a man named Rajneesh purchased a 64 thousand acre “Big Muddy Ranch,” which soon after became its own community. This area was initially intended to be a “Buddhafield,” an agricultural commune; however, soon after establishment followers of the ‘Bhagwan Shree’ created their own political leadership, enforcing rules and laws to the surrounding community

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In the book, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 by Elizabeth Fenn (2001), depicts the casualty of one of the deadliest virus in mankind -- the smallpox during the American War of Independence and how it shaped the course of the war and the lives of everyone in the North America. Smallpox is a highly contagious disease caused by an Orthopoxvirus known as variola major virus. Spread by direct transmission, the disease produces high fever, headache, excruciating back pain, anxiety, general malaise, blindness at times, and the most distinctive of all, blistering rashes that can leave deep-pitted scars. Its spread could be attributed through human civilizations, voyaging, expansion of trade routes. The European colonizers brought

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The Chinese government has over the past few decades uncovered evidence of a horrible crime committed in the former Japanese state of Manchuko, in northeast China. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children murdered 75 years ago leave their remains in the ground and in the memories of a precious few who bore witness in a time of foreign occupation. Japan does not officially recognize any military operations in China to which this massive crime can be attributed. The United States, whose own military occupied Japan and investigated its wartime actions following World War II, seems not to care about the alleged crimes of its former enemies. Bt According to the United States and Japan, exactly zero people died in the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification department of the Kwantung Army, otherwise known as the infamous Unit 731 complex.

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To what extent did Unit 731 affect Japan’s regional relations In every modern war, there exist atrocities, including those committed by the countries’ medical military personnel. Defined by the expansion of two nations across their neighbouring borders, the 1930s and 40s was illustrated by the pursuit of furthering nationalistic ideologies, including the instigation of human experiments. The development of bio-chemical weapons and the practice of battlefield surgery techniques (inherent in Unit 731) affected Japan’s 2regional relationships to a significant extent. While it may be contended that the strained diplomatic relations arose from factors other than that of the actions of Unit 731, such as the World War II textbook controversy it was,

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For many years, the creation of man-made medicine has gone through many trial and error, progress and complication. One major way in which medicine has thrived was through the form of experiments, some on animals, plants and humans. Unfortunately, certain medical experiments have had drastic consequences. The Tuskegee Experiment was a medical experiment used to study the long-term effects of syphilis of not treated. In 1932, the Public Health Service together with the Tuskegee Institute, began an experiment to record the long-term effects of syphilis which also became a strict medical treatment programs for blacks.

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They would use dirty instruments and would neglect to wash their hands between patients, which would cause the patients’ wounds to become infected. There were outbreaks of measles, malaria, small pox, pneumonia, and camp itch, which was spread by insects. In addition to bugs and doctors spreading disease, there was also the fact that garbage was everywhere around soldiers’ campsites, having been dumped just inside camp boundaries in an attempt at

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Moreover, once it has foreign substances increasing its effectiveness, it becomes far more enticing to terrorists considering the wide range of possibilities that permits (“Anthrax, terrorist use”). Quantico examines the experimental usage of materials to attack large masses through bioterrorism. Sam mixes aluminum and shellac into his bioweapons to increase their area of diffusion. This helps him increase the reactivity of the medium in which he is spreading anthrax, enabling his bioweapons to have greater effects (Bear 88-89). The application of shellac and rubber is not an exact parallel to the substances used to enhance anthrax in real life, but the concept of using extrinsic materials to boost the reactivity of bioweapons is a realistic process that Bear depicts the experimentality of perfectly.

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In this experiment, they would have prisoners only drink seawater. This would make the prisoners severely dehydrated. It got to the point where prisoners would lick recently mopped floors in order to be hydrated. Those who survived were brutally killed and thrown in the hole containing bodies. Secondly, there was a shot for Tuberculosis.

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These diseases were spread throughout many military camps because of poor sanitation, lack of clean living quarters, over-crowded camps, poor nutrition, and lack of shelter and clothing. A few of the most common methods used by physician to “cure” these

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In medieval siege, when conventional tactics and weapon were not sufficient, they often resorted to unconventional tactics and moves such as food poisoning, water poisoning, throwing infected dead bodies and animal carcasses into the walls of the besieged town, the kind of medieval biological warfare. In the medieval period, most of the towns were fortified, surrounded by tick and high walls. It was very difficult, sometimes even with a siege machines to enter into such a fortified town.

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This investigation has allowed me to gain insight as to how historians utilize different methods, as well as challenges that they may face, when carrying out historical investigations. I feel that I have developed stronger skills of interpreting history, and have gained immense historical knowledge about a topic I would not otherwise learn about. In order to carry out the historical investigation, I read multiple books by historians of different ethnicities and origins, particularly from the Eastern Pacific region, I researched the chronological timeline of comfort stations, and I analyzed interpretations of events, all of which are methods often used by historians. I found a massive limitation in the sources I used to carry out my investigation. The majority of the books and websites I found, with a few exceptions,

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