Biological weapons

Living Weapons: Biological Weapons and International Security

In the summer of 1996, as a (much younger) Army infectious disease physician, I headed off to a new assignment with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland. It was a heady time to be entering the niche fi eld of biodefense. Five years before the events of 9/11 and the subsequent “Amerithrax” attacks would become an integral part of the ...

Confronting Biological Weapons

The New World was ravaged by smallpox for several centuries after the Spanish conquest. Jenner’s discovery of the smallpox vaccine made possible the prevention and control of smallpox epidemics. In response to a large outbreak of smallpox in the Spanish colonies, King Charles IV appointed Francisco Xavier de Balmis to lead an expedition that would introduce Jenner’s vaccine to these colonies. D...

Potential biological weapons threats.

The list of agents that could pose the greatest public health risk in the event of a bioterrorist attack is short. However, although short, the list includes agents that, if acquired and properly disseminated, could cause a difficult public health challenge in terms of our ability to limit the numbers of casualties and control the damage to our cities and nation. The use of biological weapons h...

Subtle Biological Weapons

E - commerce and biological weapons

T he 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) was the first international treaty that enjoins nations to outlaw an entire class of weapons of mass destruction. The BWC’s Article I bans the development, production, stockpiling, or other acquisition of “microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no ...