AFF/BIOLOGICAL

BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CAN HAVE HUGE IMPACTS

BIOWEAPONS CAN EXCEED THE KILLING POWER OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. 8-9

The visual image of the mushroom cloud rising above Hiroshima reminds us more than a half century later of the horrifying destructive force of nuclear weapons. It's an image that should never leave our consciousness. But next time you think of it, remember this: if efficiently delivered under the right meteorological conditions against an unprotected population, biological weapons will, pound for pound, exceed the killing power of any nuclear device. Chemical weapons and nonnuclear bombs don't come close to matching the potential "footprint" of the biological weapon.

BIOWEAPONS ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE WEAPON POSSIBLE GIVEN THE CRITERIA FOR WEAPON SELECTION

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. 7

For a weapon to be considered effective and usable, it must have four main attributes. First, it has to be within the economic means of the user; a nuclear bomb may be the ultimate explosive device, but if a terrorist can't afford to buy or build one, it's not worth considering. Second, the weapon has to be capable of reaching the intended target; a missile that misses its target is useless; a gun that won't fire is a paperweight. Third, it has to cause limited collateral damage; a weapon that kills both sides creates a zerosum game. Finally, the weapon has to result in the desired outcome, usually death.

No other weapon created by even the richest and most technologically sophisticated countries can match infectious agents in each of these categories. Unlike the large, expensive physical plant required to produce nuclear weapons fissile material, or the elaborate refinery needed for a chemical weapons program, an effective biological weapons program can be set in a typical suburban basement, using basic high school or college lab equipment and materials easily ordered from catalogs.

BIOWEAPONS ATTACK COULD BE AS BAD AS NUCLEAR WINTER

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. XVIII

Little wonder, then, that Dr. D. A. Henderson, the mar who led the successful campaign to rid the world of smallpox, says biological terrorism "is more likely than ever before and more threatening than either explosives or chemicals." Now head of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies, Henderson calls the specter of biological weapons use "every bit as grim and foreboding as that of a nuclear winter."

ANTHRAX, SMALLPOX AND PLAGUE HAVE BEEN WEAPONIZED — THE MOST DANGEROUS WEAPONS POUND FOR POUND

Anthrax is not the only threat. More worrisome, smallpox and bubonic plague have been weaponised. Some health officials even fear that hemorrhagic fevers that have no vaccines and no cure, such as Ebola and Marburg may someday be used for terror. Bio weapons are easy to carry and conceal. Days or even weeks may pass before their use is apparent. Pound for pound, they are deadlier than chemical or even nuclear weapons.