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Biological Weapons
• Can Biological Weapons fall into the
wrong hands?
– “Probably the most chilling of all the reports
coming out of Japan were those that the Aum
had actually attempted to use bacteria
warfare.”
• Senate Government Affairs Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations
October 31, 1995 Staff Statement
Definition BW*
• Biological weapons are made from living organisms, or
the toxins generated by living organisms that cause
disease in humans, animals, or plants. These agents can
be bacteria, virus, mycoplasmas or toxins. The agent
may be lethal or incapacitating. Biological agents can be
used as proximity antipersonnel agents against humans,
or may also be employed as antianimal, antiplant and
antimaterial agents. Antianimal agents are effective
against domestic livestock. Antiplant agents are live
organisms that cause disease or damage to crops and
antimaterial agents cause damage or breakdown of
materials such as rubber.
–
*M. Prelas and M. Peck, Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Marcel Dekker; (January
2005), ISBN: 0824753399
Aum Shinrikyo's CBW Program:
Gas, Bugs, Drugs and Thugs
• Aum dispersed anthrax bacilli at their
Tokyo headquarters in 1993
• There are reports that Aum may have
used anthrax bacilli elsewhere
Case Study West Nile Virus
• September 2, 1999 CDC confirmed that 3
residents of Queens, NY had contracted a
mosquito born virus.
• Initial fears of bioterrorism
Case Study Foot and Mouth
Disease
• Initial outbreak February 19, 2001
• Panic Spreads Globally
• As of September 3, 2001 three new cases
of foot and mouth disease confirmed in UK
A Short History of Biological
Warfare
• Biological weapons have a long history. In their
earliest manifestation, the water or food supplies
of an opposing army or of a city under siege
were fouled. The Assyrians around 600 BC
poisoned the wells of their enemies with a
parasitic fungus called rye ergot that caused the
disease ergotism[i]. This disease was
incapacitating leaving towns defenseless when
the Assyrians invaded.
• [i] Bioterror through time, Jason Robey, Discovery Channel Series,
Spotlight,
http://dsc.discovery.com/anthology/spotlight/bioterror/history/history.html,
(last accessed 2/27/03).
Plague as a Siege Weapon
• History has also recorded the use of plague
infected corpses that were catapulted into cities
under siege or into the ranks of an opposing
army.
– 1346 At Kaffa (now Feodossia) the Tartars threw the
bodies of plague victims over the walls. Eventually led
to the plague pandemic in Europe known as the
“black death”. About 25% of the European population
died.
– 1710 During the war between Russia and Sweden,
Russian troops used the body of plague victims to
expose Swedish soldiers.
Smallpox as a BW
• 1776 During the French and Indian war, Sir Jeffery
Amherst provided small pox infested blankets to Indians
loyal to France. He was able to take Ft. Carlillon and
renamed it Ft. Ticonderoga.
• George Washington was concerned about the smallpox
threat and ordered that the Continental Army be
vaccinated in 1777. Vaccination against smallpox in
1777 used a weak strain of the disease[i]. There was a
smallpox outbreak in the colonies soon after but no one
under Washington’s command caught it.
• [i] A medical battalion, Bernadine Healy, M.D., U.S. News and
World Report, February 10, 2003 p 76
Biological Weapons in US History
• Biological weapons were used at least twice during the
American Civil war[i]. During the Confederate retreat
from Vicksburg, General Johnson contaminated wells
with the carcasses of dead animals to slow down
General Sherman’s Union troops. A confederate
sympathizer who would later become the governor of
Kentucky, Dr. Luke Blackburn, infected clothing with
smallpox and yellow fever and then sold the goods to
Union troops. In response to these acts, the Union
specifically banned the use of poison and infectious
disease by its troops.
• [i] A medical battalion, Bernadine Healy, M.D., U.S. News and
World Report, February 10, 2003 p 76
Beginning of 20th Century
•
During World War I, German scientists had isolated
some disease-causing microorganisms. A German
sympathizer, Dr. Anton Dilger who lived in the
Washington, D.C. area, grew Bacillus anthracis (the
cause of anthrax) and Pseudomonas mallei (the cause
of glanders) from cultures supplied by the Imperial
German Government[i]. German agents posing as
dockworkers in Baltimore obtained cultures of these
bioagents from Dilger. The cultures were used to infect
about 3,000 head of livestock which were being shipped
to Allied troops in Europe. In addition, several hundred
allied troops were also infected.
• [i] A medical battalion, Bernadine Healy, M.D., U.S. News and
World Report, February 10, 2003 p 76
20th century science & BW
• The Japanese began a program in 1937 to weaponize
biological agents. The operation was housed in a
complex in Manchuria called Unit 731. The scientists
under the direction of Dr. Ishii Shiro in Unit 731 tested
and weaponized plague, cholera and anthrax under the
guise of water purification research. By 1940, Japan
began testing some of their creations on the civilian
population of China, Chinese soldiers and prisoners of
war. In one such experiment plague-infested rat fleas
were dropped from the air causing an epidemic with
10,000 deaths. Over the course of World War II as many
as 200,000 people died because of the experiments
performed by Unit 731 scientists.
• 1943-69 US biological weapons program
operated.
• 1975-83 The countries of Laos and Kampuchea
were attacked by panes and helicopters
delivering aerosols of several colors (yellow,
green and white). Shortly after, people and
animals became ill. Somewhat later, similar
clouds of aerosols were observed in
Afghanistan. Speculation is that this material
may have been the tichothecenes mycotoxin.
• 1978 A Bulgarian exile, Georgi Markov, was
stabbed in the leg with an umbrella point while in
London. He died three days later.
The Assassin
• 1979 In late April about 66 people died of
pulmonary anthrax infections in the city of
Sverdlovsk. The anthrax was accidentally
released from a biological weapons facility
nearby.
Map of Sverdlovsk Accident
Recent Events
• In Dalles, Oregon, from September 9 through 18 and from
September 19 through October 10, 1984[i]. The salad bars of four
area restaurants were contaminated with salmonella typhmurium.
Seven hundred and fifty one cases of salmonella gastroenteritis
ensued. This outbreak of salmonellosis was caused by intentional
contamination of restaurant food bars by members of the Bhagwan
Shree Rajneesh commune who were attempting to incapacitate
voters in a local election.
• Weapons grade anthrax were placed in envelopes and mailed to
Florida, Washington, DC and New York. On October 2, 2001, Robert
Stevens a photo editor at American Media Inc., checked into a
Florida hospital. He died on October 5 from inhalation anthrax[ii]. On
October 15, 2001, Ernesto Blanco, another in Florida American
Media employee was also diagnosed with inhalation anthrax, a rare
disease in the US.
•
•
[i] Torok TJ, Tauxe RV, Wise RP, Livengood JR, Sokolow R, Mauvais S, Birkness KA, Skeels MR, Horan JM, Foster, “A
large community outbreak of Salmonellosis caused by intentional contamination of restaurant salad bars,” LR., JAMA 1997
Aug 6;278(5):389-95
[ii] Officials: Florida anthrax case 'isolated', CNN, October 5, 2001,
http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/10/05/florida.anthrax/, (last accessed 3/6/03)
Transmission
• Serratia Marscens (SM), is a harmless
bacterium that is easily tracked due to its bright
red color. Instructors in medical school used it to
demonstrate the transmission mechanisms for
infectious diseases. An instructor would put the
organism in his or her mouth and then lecture.
The organism would be captured on plates
covered with nutrients around the room. The
next day, the dispersion of SM around the room
could be seen on the plates by its characteristic
color.
Post-Weaponization Historical View
• In 1949 as a test, teams with sprayers
introduced SM into the intake vents of the
Pentagon’s air conditioning system.
• April of 1950 the USS Coral Sea and USS K. D.
Bailey sprayed both Serratia Marscens (SM) and
Bacillus Globigii (BG) into the wind blowing
towards Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News,
Virginia. The tests demonstrated that U.S. costal
cities could be threatened by a biological attack.
• In September 1950, about two miles off the cost
of San Francisco, U.S. Navy ships sprayed SM,
BG and a cloud of fluorescent particles, along a
dissemination line of 3 miles length. The material
was collected at monitoring stations around the
bay area. The Fluorescent Particles (FP)
deposited throughout the city’s streets and
sidewalks and at night, under ultraviolet light
glowed like stars. Traces of SM, BG and FP
were found as far away as twenty-three miles. If
the organism had been anthrax, it would have
produced lethal doses in an area of about 50
square miles.
• A series of tests were designed to show that a
large-scale attack with biological weapons was
feasible. On December 2, 1957, an AC-119
sprayed an area from South Dakota to
International Falls, Minnesota, with fluorescent
particles while a cold air front was moving down
from Canada. Particles were detected 1200
miles away in New York State.
• A plane flying from Toledo, Ohio, to Abilene,
Texas, and a second plane flying from Detroit,
Michigan, to Goodland, Kansas, sprayed about
forty pounds of FP per minute. Sampling stations
on the ground proved that large areas of the
country could be attacked with biological
weapons.
• A jet aircraft equipped with a BG sprayer flew a
predetermined pattern near Victoria, Texas. The
BG was found as Far East as the Florida Keys.
• Travelers at the Greyhound Bus terminal in
Washington D. C., and the Washington National
Airport, Washington D. C., were subjected to BG
in October 1965. Scientists walked through the
bus terminal and the airport and sprayed the
bacterium into the air without being detected.
Aerosol traps were placed at strategic points to
capture the bacterium as it moved through the
air.
• A light bulb filled with BG was dropped on the
tracks in the New York City subway in June
1966. BG spread throughout the subway system
within 20 minutes. Monitoring of the BG
demonstrated that even this small amount of
material, had it been anthrax, could have killed
thousands of people.
Conclusions of US Tests
• Overall, more than 200 tests were performed to
demonstrate the potential of biological weapons.
This research culminated between 1964 and
1968 with a series of tests at facilities in the
Pacific including the well-known project SHADY
GROVE. The tests demonstrated that a single
weapon was able to cover 2400 square
kilometers with 30% casualties [3].
Relative Effects of NBC Weapons
Parameter
Nuclear
Chemical
Biological
sq miles
75-100
100
34,000
_________________________________________________
Morbidity
98%
30%
35-75
_________________________________________________
Residual
6 months
3-36 hrs
Epidemic
1000 sq. m.
Spreads all over
________________________________________________
Time
seconds
30 secs
few to 14 days
________________________________________________
Prop. Damage 30 sq miles
undamaged
undamaged
Infectious agents most effective
when spread in an aerosol form
Disease
Inhalation anthrax
Brucellosis
Cholera
Glanders
Pneumonic Plague
Tularemia
Q Fever
Smallpox
Venezuelan Equine
Encephalitis
Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers
Botulism
Staph Enterotoxin B
Ricin
T-2 Mycotoxins
Transmit Man to
Man
No
No
Rare
Low
High
No
Rare
High
Low
Moderate
No
No
No
No
Infective Dose (Aerosol)
8,000-50,000 spores
10 -100 organisms
10-500 organisms
Assumed low
100-500 organisms
10-50 organisms
1-10 organisms
Assumed low (10-100 organisms)
10-100 organisms
1-10 organisms
0.001 mg/kg is LD50 for type A
0.03 mg/person incapacitation
3-5 mg/kg is LD50 in mice
Moderate
Lethal Dose Amount of Agent (in Kilograms) to produce
50% Casualties on 1 Square Kilometer Target
Type
Biological
Biological
Biological
Biological
Agent
Anthrax
SEB
Botulinum
Ricin
Kilograms
0.09
119
345
1,727
Chemical
Chemical
VX
Mustard
5,000
10,000
Nuclear
Fission
13,333
Aerosol Infectivity Relationship
Ideal aerosols would have
a homogeneous population
of 2-3 micron particles
Maximum infection of
the human respiratory
system are with
particles between 1-3
microns size
Particle size Infection
micrometers Severity
Less
18-20
15-18
7-12
4-6
(bronchloles)
1-3
(alveoll)
More
Primary Aerosol
• Particles with 1 to 5 micrometer diameter
are called the primary aerosol
• The primary aerosol behaves like a gas
• A person becomes infected because he or
she is breathing at a rate of 10 to 20 liters
of air a minute.
Lethality of Bioagents
• Throughout history, the balance between infectious
disease and humankind has been tenuous. Disease had
killed more humans than war. World War II was the first
major conflict where more combatants died directly by
inflicted wounds than from disease or infection. One of
humankind’s greatest achievements during the 20th
century was medical science advancements shifting the
delicate balance between microbe and man in favor of
humankind.”
From: Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mark Prelas and Michael
Peck, Marcel Dekker, ISBN: 0824753399, To be published January 2005.
The Human Biohazzard
• Highly infectious bioagents could be delivered
by humans.
– If a terrorist were to be exposed to smallpox, it would
be feasible for that terrorist to infect a planeload of
people on a long haul flight while in the infectious
stages of the disease. Given the nature of travel
across boarders today as compared to 1972, it would
be very difficult to implement quarantine along with
vaccination as a means of containment. There is a
potential of spreading smallpox worldwide.
– A suicide bomber could infect himself or herself with
blood born agents such as HIV or Ebola and spread
the infection by detonating himself or herself in a
crowded area.
The Human Experience
•
“In many ways biological weapons are understandable. We have shared
human experiences in dealing with colds, flues and infection. The basics of
hygiene are universally taught to children to help them avoid catching
disease. Life experience and familiarity tends to mitigate our fear of disease
because we have to live with it. In contrast to nuclear threats, the problem is
that we become complacent and we do not have a healthy fear of biological
agents. It is very common for us to go to work or school with the cold or flu
fully recognizing that we will not take precautions in the workplace or the
classroom to protect others or ourselves. A cough or sneeze deposits a
biological aerosol on surfaces that others touch such as desktops and
doorknobs. People inevitably transmit biological martial and spread the
disease to others who touch the desktops or doorknobs and then touch their
mouth or eyes. Habits are hard to break, but in order to minimize infection
routes, frequent washing of hands and learning not to touch the mouth and
eyes are critical. Flues and colds spread through communities and homes
rapidly. But the risk of dying from a cold or flu is small so we do not think
twice about the disease.”
From: Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mark Prelas and Michael Peck, Marcel Dekker, ISBN: 0824753399, To
be published January 2005.
Complacency
• “What would be our reaction if the infection was
SARS? SARS, with a 30% mortality rate, is one
of several infectious diseases that have the
potential to spread rapidly. The World Health
Organization keeps a close watch on natural
SARS outbreaks and works quickly to intervene
when discovered. What would happen if SARS
were being spread on purpose by a determined
group? If multiple people were purposely
infected with SARS and were sent to public
places to spread the disease, what could be
done to limit its spread? Our complacency to
biological agents would work against us.”
A simple virus could be deadly
• “Biological weapons do not have to be sophisticated to be effective.
The numbers are staggering. For example, a highly infectious agent
with 2.5% mortality rate if optimally spread around the world could
infect a significant portion of the world’s population and could kill
over 100 million people: The 1918 influenza pandemic, for example,
killed 20 to 40 million people when the world’s population was much
smaller[i],[ii]. However, as described in chapter 4, biological
weapons can be even more sophisticated and more lethal. As
biotechnology flourishes, the means to make agents more
sophisticated and lethal will also flourish. Biotechnology has
developed a host of tools that many would have thought impossible
50 years ago such as recombinant genetic engineering.”
–
–
[i] The Influenza Pandemic of 1918, Molly Billings, June, 1997, Stanford University,
http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/, (last accessed 5.25.04).
[ii] Influenza 1918, PBS, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/, (last accessed 5/25/04).
From: Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mark Prelas and Michael
Peck, Marcel Dekker, ISBN: 0824753399, To be published January 2005.
Can States and Terrorist Groups
Cooperate
• Yes!!
– See for example the Taliban and Al Qaeda
• Cooperation of this type is a potential
military tool
– China Ponders New Rules of `Unrestricted
War'
The Washington Post; Washington; Aug 8,
1999; John Pomfret;
Cost of Bioweapons
• There are economic barriers that play a role into how a
weapon technology migrates. The United Nations did a
1969 study on the cost of causing 50% casualties over a
one square kilometer area using various weapon
systems[i]. Biological weapons were by far the least
expensive weapon:
–
–
–
–
Conventional weapon ~ $6,000
Nuclear weapon ~ $2,400
Chemical weapon (sarin gas) ~ $1,800
Biological weapon (anthrax) ~ $3
[i] Gordon Christensen, Biological Terrorism, Lecture in Science and Technology of
Terrorisms and Counterterrorism, Fall 2000,
http://prelas.nuclear.missouri.edu/NE401/l24.zip, (last accessed 4/28/04).
The Future of Bio terrorism--Designer Bugs:
Biotechnologies may eventually be used to
develop manmade bioagents
• Scientists Construct First Synthetic
Poliovirus July 11, 2002,
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=search&StoryID=1192468
• GM goat spins web based future, Aug. 21,
2000
– Using techniques similar to those used to
produce Dolly the sheep, scientists at Nexia
Biotechnologies in Quebec have bred goats with
spider genes.
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_889000/889951.stm
Risks
• “Knowledge is a double-edged sword in that any good
that comes from a technology is equally balanced by the
potential harm that it can cause. Biotechnology is an
excellent example. This technology will dominate the
21st century with the potential to solve the plagues of the
prior centuries (e.g., disease, pestilence, hunger and
poverty). People once wrongly believed that nuclear
weapons could destroy mankind. Unlike technologies of
the past, which did not possess the capability,
biotechnology does have the capability of destroying
mankind.”
From: Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mark
Prelas and Michael Peck, Marcel Dekker, ISBN: 0824753399, To be
published January 2005.
Questions?
U.S. Marines gather around cages of pigeons at a military base
in northern Kuwait near the border with Iraq on March 14.
Marines being deployed to Iraq will take along pigeons to warn
them of chemical or biological attack. March 14, 2003
Lethal Vs. Incapacitating Agents
Lethal
Incapacitating
Bacillus anthracis VEE Virus
Botulinum Toxin
Q Fever
Francisella
tularensis
Yersinia pestis
Staph Enterotoxin
B (SEB)
Smallpox
Ricin Toxin
Table 2.1 Biological Weapons
Programs Around the World
• *M. Prelas and M. Peck, Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of
Mass Destruction, Marcel Dekker; (January 2005), ISBN:
0824753399
Criteria For Biological Agents
• Easily and rapidly produced
• Can be made into 1 to 5 micrometer
aerosol
• Can be concentrated and dried
• Are environmentally stable
– Heat, air, humidity, UV
• Can be weaponized
Principle Agents Used in
Weapons
Botulinim Toxin
Shellfish Toxin
Anthrax
Tularemia
VEE
Q fever
Enterotoxin
Undulant fever
Rice blast
Wheat rust
Lethal
Lethal
Lethal
Incapacitating
Incapacitating
Incapacitating
Incapacitating
Incapacitating
Plant Pathogen
Plant Pathogen
Anthrax
• Anthrax is stable to air, UV, and temperature. It
forms spores and they can last for years.
• Anthrax can be introduced by ingestion (GI),
inhaled, and through a cut in the skin.
• The most deadly is inhalation.
– Spores go the regional lymph nodes
– Two lethal toxins are produced.
• Toxins kill cells
Inhalation Anthrax
• Need about 10,000 spores to infect.
• Starts out like a flu
– Dry cough and you do not feel well
• Initial improvement followed by an abrupt
onset of respiratory distress and shock.
Note: If you are not treated before the abrupt
onset of respiratory distress, then no
treatment will work.
Anthrax Pathway
Tularemia
• It takes 10 to 50 organisms to infect.
• It spreads by inhalation, ingestion or
absorption. Mortality rates of 20 to 30%.
• 2 to 10 days after inhalation the abrupt
onset of high fever, nonproductive cough,
and pneumonia.
Tularemia Infection Mechanisms
Plague
• Plague is caused by the bacterium
Yersinia pestis.
• Cause of 3 devastating pandemics
– Black Death in 14 th century Europe
– China 1890
• Disease carried by steamships throughout the
world
• Epidemic reached US in 1900 San Francisco
• Plague is now endemic in the US
Endemic Counties in US
Methods of Transmission
Symptoms of Inhalational
Plague
• Two to three days incubation
– High fever, cough with bloody sputum
– Antibiotics must be started within 24 hours of
symptoms to impact survival.
Plague Infection Mechanisms
Q Fever
•
•
•
•
•
Highly infectious rickettsia type organism.
Resistant to heat and drying
Highly infectious by aerosol route
High risk of infection by spore like form
An incapacitating biological warfare agent
Q Fever Symptoms
•
•
•
•
Incubation period 10 to 40 days
Fluctuating fever 103 to 104 oF
Night sweats, headaches
Self limiting disease 5 to 13 days
Q Fever Infection Mechanisms
Viral Equine Encephalitis (VEE)
• Virus—sensitive to heat and disinfectants
• Can be aerosolized as a wet or dry agent
• Highly infectious- 100% will develop
symptoms
• A Neurotropic virus- attacks the brain
• Primarily an incapacitating agent
VEE Infection Mechanisms
Smallpox
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
DNA virus
Spread by aerosols
Very stable as biological aerosol
Resistant to common disinfectants
Highly contagious
Infectious until scabs are healed over
A similar disease is Monkey Pox
Smallpox Symptoms
• Incubation period of 5 to 10 days
• High fever, vomiting, headache and stiffness
(duration 2 to 4 days)
• In about 7 days small spots will begin to develop
forming a rash around the face. The rash will
spread and the spots will form painful blisters.
The blisters will form scabs which will last for
several weeks and fall off.
Black and Red Pox
• The black and red pox are more sever and
can cause death in 3 to 4 days
Small Pox and Monkey Pox
Infection Mechanisms
Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHF)
• RNA virus
• Human infection by insect bites or by
contact with blood and body fluids.
• Not very stable
VHF Symptoms
•
•
•
•
Fever
Shock
Mucous membrane hemorrhage
Respiratory and central nervous system
problems
• Disease severity and survival depends upon
host factors, virus strains and other immunologic
factors
• Mortality varies between 50 and 80%
VHF
Marburg
Ebola
Ebola Case Study
VHF Infection Mechanisms
Comparison of Onset of
Symptoms
Domestic Terrorism
• Consider an attack on a large skyscraper
– Volume of structure is 1x1010 liters
– Floor Area = 2.72 km2
Amount of Material Required to
Attack the Skyscraper
Agent
0.06
Kg for
Attack
0.1632
SEB
119
324
Botulinum
345
938
Ricin
1,727
4,698
VX
5,000
13,600
10,000
27,200
Anthrax
Mustard
LD50
kg/km2
Production Methods
•
•
•
•
Fermentation
Chicken eggs (virus)
Tissue
Live Animals
Fermentation
Fermentation is as common as
brewing beer
First you provide the organism
food for growth
You add the organism and stir
You provide the right conditions
for growth and then wait
Production of Lethal Botulinum
Toxin
• Grow toxin in garbage cans
Production of Crude Liquid
Tularemia
• Grow tularensis on blood agar plate:
obtain confluent growth. Each plate yields
a minimum of 1x1010 cells
Viral Production Process
The USSR proved that large scale
production of Agents is possible
• Ken Alibeck, Biohazzard 1998
– “We were among the 140 signatories of the (1972
biological weapons) convention, pledging “not to
develop, produce, stockpile or otherwise acquire or
retain” biological agents for offensive military
purposes. At the same time, through our covert
program, we stockpiled hundreds of tons of anthrax
and dozens of tons of plague and smallpox near
Moscow and other Russian cities for use against the
United States and its Western allies.”
What makes a good biological
weapon
• 4 considerations
– The agent properties
– The munitions
– Meteorological conditions
– Method of dissemination
• Line source or point source
• Physics of aerosols examined –
Copperhead test in the arctic.
Biological Weapons Programs
• US program began in 1941 when
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson
requested a National Academy of Science
to review the feasibility of BW. Intelligence
indicated that Germany and Japan were
involved in BW research
• 1942: NAS committee concluded that
BW was feasible. George W. Merck
formed the War Reserve Service. Camp
Detrick in Fredrick MD was chosen as
the primary site. It became operational
in 1943
• 1944: Dugway proving grounds in Utah
was established as a test center.
Production plant was built in Terre
Haute IN.
• 1947-49 small scale testing of Bacillus
Globigii (BG) and Serratia Marscens
(SM) were performed at Camp Detrick.
• 1950: BW program was extended due
to Korean War
• 1951: An anticrop bomb was developed
and placed into production.
• 1953: Camp Detrick was expanded
• 1954 Pine Bluff AR facility operational
• 1954 tularemia production at PBA
facility
• 1955 Marshal Zhukov states that CW
and BW would be used by the USSR in
future wars
• 1959-69 The military services submitted
requirements for BW munitions
including artillery, missiles, drones and
other weapons
• 1962 Desert test center (DTC)
established at Ft. Douglas, Salt Lake
City.
• 1964-66 Virus and Rickettsiae
production plants built at PBA
• 1969 President Nixon renounces the
use of biological weapons
• 1970-72 All BW stock destroyed
• 1975 President Ford signs BW
Munitions
Vocabulary
• Dispersal
– Dispensing and
dispersing a
submunitions payload
from a primary unit to
maximize the spread
of the BW delivery
system.
• Dissemination
– Release or discharge
of BW agent from a
munitions or
submunitions by
pressurized gas or an
explosive to form an
aerosol.
Problems in BW design
• Agents such as anthrax, botulinum, plague
are in both dry and slurry form
• Live agents are sensitive to temperature,
wind, humidity, shock, etc.
• Must form a fine aerosol
• Aerosol is invisible and difficult to detect
Spanish Munitions sold
internationally
Submunitions
Honest John Warhead
Russian Self Dispersing
Warhead
Linear Sprayer
Delivery Capability of Groups and
Individuals
• High quality anthrax material was sent by
mail. Other bioagents in aerosol form
could be delivered in this way.
• High quality anthrax material
– Can be spread in closed environments by
breaking container like 1966 NY subway test.
– Can be delivered by dry sprayer in open
– Can be dropped by crop duster
Russian Chimera Virus
Ken Alibek, Biohazzards 1998
• “We believe we can create a chimera
virus,” (quote from Lev Sandakchiev to Dr.
Alibek) “A chimera is an imaginary
monster with the head of a lion, the body
of a goat, and a serpent’s tail. Biologists
use the word to describe an organ
composed of tissues of diverse genetic
material.”
• “In 1997, the same team (Sergei
Netyosov’s group) reported in the
Russian publication Questions in
Virology that they had successfully
inserted a gene for Ebola into the
Genome of vaccinia…But we had
always intended vaccinia to be our
surrogate for further smallpox weapons
research…One of our goals had been to
study the feasibility of a smallpox-Ebola
weapon.”
Ken Alibek, Biohazzard, 1998
• “Aum Shinrikyo had tried nine times
between 1990 and 1995 to spread
botulinum toxin and anthrax in the
streets of Tokyo and Yokohama. Seiichi
Endo…testified that their delivery
methods – spraying the agents from
rooftop or from the back of a van – had
proven faulty, and their strains were not
sufficiently virulent. But it is not difficult
to find better strains.”
Ken Alibek, Biohazzard, 1998
• “I was told by American biowarfare experts
that Iraq obtained some of its most lethal
strains of anthrax from the American Type
Culture Collection in Rockville, MD…For thirty
five dollars they also picked up strains of
tularemia and VEE once targeted for
weaponization at Ft. Detrick…Six weeks after
the Aum Shinrikyo attack, Larry Harris, a
member of white supremacist group in Ohio,
ordered three vials of plague from the
American Type Culture Collection catalog.”
Ken Alibek, Biohazzard, 1998
True Strategic Economic
Warfare
• Objectives
– Disrupt food supplies
– Deny trade
World Plants
•
•
•
•
250,000 plant varieties
80,000 edible
75% of worlds diet is based on 8 crops
49% of world diet is based on rice, corn
and wheat
Food supplies are vulnerable
• In the US most state raise less than 30%
of the crops that feed their populations
• Cities typically have a five day food supply
• In the US the food you eat on average
comes from over 1300 miles away
Potential Agriculture Biological
Weapons
• The US has looked at 2000 potential
pathogens. Of those 551 could be
potential threats to our agricultural
industry.
– Rice blast, late blight of potato, stem rust of
wheat, stem rust of rye, southern corn leaf
blight, citrus canker, etc.
• An agricultural attack would not be
detected for days to weeks.
Trends in agriculture
encourages BW terrorism
• US farms are more concentrated than ever
• There is decreasing genetic diversity
• There is a consolidation of support
industries
• We are becoming more urban
• Agriculture is becoming more international
Method of Attacking plants and
animals
• Information based
• A small number of knowledgeable people
• Minor resource requirement
What would an attack look like?
• Plants
– Infected plant material
or seed
– Items contaminated
with agent
– Green house or
garden
• Animal
–
–
–
–
Few small vials
Refrigeration
Syringe and needle
Guinea pigs, rabbits,
or hamsters
– Isolation and
personnel protection
Biological attack indicators
• “We may not realize until too late that we
have become the victims of a biological
attack. It is not until days or weeks after
such an attack has taken place – after the
first wave of deaths – that we will most
likely recognize its occurrence.”
Ken Alibek, Biohazzard, 1998
Human Imagination is the limit
• How can bioagents be used?
– The Human imagination is the limit.