bioweapons

Introduction to Biological Weapons

Biological weapons (BWs) deliver toxins and microorganisms, such as viruses and bacteria, so as to deliberately inflict disease among people, animals, and agriculture. Biological attacks can result in destruction of crops, temporarily discomforting a small community, killing large numbers of people, or other outcomes.

The way that a biological weapon is used depends on several factors. These include: the agent itself; its preparation; its durability in the environment; and route of infection. Some agents can be disbursed as an aerosol, which can be inhaled or can infect a susceptible spot on the skin, like a cut or wound. Attackers can also contaminate food or water with some agents.

Several differences set BWs apart from other weapons of mass destruction like nuclear and chemical weapons. The release of an agent is not immediately detectable. There are systems that detect biological agents, but most have a delay between acquiring the agent and identifying it.Biological weapons have a long history of use. In 1346, the invading Tartar army catapulted the bodies of plague victims into the Crimean Peninsula city of Kaffa and infected its citizens. In 1763, British troops under General Jeffrey Amherst gave the Delaware Indians blankets used by people with smallpox, possibly infecting the susceptible native population. Japan contaminated food and released plague-infected ticks during their conflict with China during World War II. The 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the United States infected 22 people and killed five.

The effects of an attack also are not immediately detectable. People may become exposed to an agent soon after its release, but the infection requires time to cause illness (the incubation period). Thus, one of the first indicators of a BW attack could be disease outbreaks.

The effect of BWs, disease, can continue after its release. If a transmissible agent, such as the smallpox or Ebola virus, infects a person at the site of its release, that person could travel and spread the agent to others. This would result in secondary infections at areas far from initial release and unprepared for the disease.

Two treaties have placed restrictions on biological weapons. The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons in warfare. Some signing countries declared that they would not honor it if their enemies, or the allies of their enemies, did not adhere to its prohibitions. The United States ratified the Protocol in 1975 after President Richard Nixon renounced the use of biological weapons in 1969.

The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention restricts countries from developing, producing, stockpiling, or acquiring biological agents, weapons, and equipment outside of peaceful purposes. However, some signatory countries may be continuing weapons development, as the former Soviet Union did before its massive program was discontinued in 1992.

Although developing and using biological weapons once required support by nations, recent advances in biotechnology have made it easier to develop dangerous viruses, bacteria, and toxins with fewer resources. This has increased concerns that individuals and groups could resort to bioterrorism to attack a population.

Russian Schooled Chinese Bio-Weapon Scientists and Swine Ebola Influenza, a Mutation Batch

any are very worried about all the bio weapons scientist that left the former Soviet Union after its collapse. Many of these folks went to the highest bidder, other nations which wanted to hire by a weapon scientist for their military. Many nations in the Middle East had hired these folks, some went to China, and others are scattered around the world.

Some conspiracy theorists even believe that the recent Swine Flu Pandemic in Mexico City was the work of a bio weapons team. I am not going to get into conspiracy theories here, but this scenario fits, and that would be just the kind of thinking a bio weapons scientist to consider unleashing a deadly bio weapon into a densely populated urban city. And, since it is happened half a world away from the Middle East, and China the whole thing sounds plausibly deniable.

Of course, I am not a spy fiction novel thriller writer or author, but there are some that believe that's exactly what happened. But it even gets worse because in the Philippines Swine Ebola was discovered, which is very serious considering it is attacks the respiratory system and could combine or be scientifically forced to combined with Swine Flu, and therefore, spread so fast, that it would not burn itself out like Ebola outbreaks often do.

All the components are there, but why do bio-weapons scientists dare to create this mutation? Intelligence sources tell us that many Chinese medical virus research scientists have been trained in Russia, and have gone back to work with the Chinese bio weapons program. This is a totally scary thought, and it keeps people up at night in the intelligence sector, and scares the ever living crap out of anyone in the know. Please consider this.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes if you like reading spy thriller novels or like this type of content, why not go to http://www.bloggingcontent.com Note: All of Lance Winslow's articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers. Lance Winslow believes those who use these strategies lack integrity and mislead the reader. Indeed, those who use such cheating tools, crutches, and tricks of the trade may even be breaking the law by misleading the consumer and misrepresenting themselves in online marketing, which he finds completely unacceptable.