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| Close up of Anthrax, Ebola and Smallpox respectively |
- Biological weapons are based on organisms that occur naturally that cause disease.
- Chemical weapons are poisons like mustard gas and nerve gases like cyclosarin.
Biological weapons are weapons of mass destruction, an effective attack can kill thousands, even people who are not targeted. Biological warfare is really a lot simpler than most people imagine it to be. For example if you put dog faeces in your friend's burger you are in essence waging a biological war against them. By spraying insecticides you're using a chemical weapon on insects.
How biological weapons can be distributed:
There are several ways in which biological weapons can be distributed.
- They can be attached or contained inside explosives. However, biological weapons are rarely released with the use of large explosives as the chemical or biological agent will most likely be destroyed by the heat and explosion, leaving only 5% of the remaining agent capable of causing disease. This is extremely wasteful.
- Normally biological weapons are distributed via aerosol sprays. It is done this way because it is efficient, easy and easily hidden. The airborne germs are dispersed as fine particles and inhaled by any unfortunate victims.
- Another method is to simply insert the agent into something that is then given to someone or consumed by the adversary. For example perhaps poisoning a certain water supply, or covering a basketball in anthrax powder and throwing it at someone.
- The agent can also be absorbed or injected into the skin. This is a rather inefficient way of distributing biological weapons since every victim would have to be done individually. Thus, this might be suitable for assassinations and the like.
Methods of detecting biological weapons:
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| BIDS (Biological Integrated Detection System) |
- One easy way of detecting biological weapons is for doctors to identify early victims and then key out a certain pattern of disease. If many people and animals are noted to have been effected then a biological warfare attack can be surmised. However, this is a rather unreliable method of detection, and once an attack has been identified many people will probably have already been affected.
- Certain machines can be used to detect biological weapons. There are not many in existence however one example is the 'Biological Integrated Detection System' which is also known as 'BIDS'. It is a mobile lab suite mounted on the back of a HUMVEE that is capable of detecting four different agents at the same time. Once the cloud comes to the BIDS system, the system detects an unnatural agent and it will send a warning before specifying the agent.
Methods of protecting against biological weapons:
- Using masks is definitely the best way of protecting against biological weapons. The masks are capable of filtering airborne particles from biological weapons. However for it to be effective, the mask must be fitted to a person's face as particles can often get through the face-seals on poor fitting masks.
- Antibiotics: Obviously medications like antibiotics would have to be taken if someone has been affected by biological weapons.
- Also, vaccinations are used. There are currently vaccines available for anthrax, botuilinum toxin, tularemia, plague, Q fever and smallpox. These immunisations are generally only available to military personnel.
Here is a list of some feared chemical and biological agents for your reading pleasure:
- Sarin: A nerve agent, it predictably affects the signaling mechanism used in nerve cells to communicate with one another. It causes the nerve to act incorrectly which cause muscles to contract uncontrollably, which eventually kills the victim through suffocation, since the diaphragm is a muscle.
- Cyclosarin: Another nerve agent, works in the same way as Sarin does but it is twice as toxic and thus requires less for the same effect.
- Mustard gas: Mustard gas is a blistering agent. The effects aren't immediate, bu within 24 hours of eposure, the victims generally undergo intense itching and irritation of the skin. These gradually turn into large blisters which are chemical burns. Blistering agents are less deadly than nerve agents.
- Ebola virus: Ebola virus is extremely deadly. Ebola kills approximately 90% of the people that it infects and is capable of causing haemorrhagic fever.
- Anthrax: Anthrax is caused by a bacterium. When anthrax gets into your lungs it reproduces and creates a toxin that is potentially fatal.
There are many types of biological agents that can be used as weapons. They can be categorised into three general types: spore-forming bacteria, vegetative bacteria (nonspore-forming) and viruses. Biological toxins are also potential weapons however they are not living organisms.
Spore-forming bacteria are much more resilient and are able to survive more capably in hostile environments. This is because bacterial spores are made of a tough layer of keratin that can resist things like chemical, heat and staining. Once these spore-forming bacteria are inside the victim, they turn into a vegetative (growing) state. Bacteria that are distributed in their vegetative state are much less resistant to environmental stresses.
Despite its obvious advantages, there are also many limitations involved with biological and chemical weapons.
First of all, there is the fact that biological weapons in general are just unpredictable and tremendously hard to control once they're out in the wild. Like I have mentioned, the continual spread of contagious disease can go far beyond the intended target.
Also, many biological agents are largely dependent on having optimal weather conditions. Many agents will simply degrade in certain climatic conditions. Like I mentioned earlier, vegetative bacteria are much more susceptible to damage from environmental stresses. Studies have shown that the survival of agents increases in environments such as air, hard surfaces, water, embedded in textiles and in soil.
There are many factors that can affect the survival of agents. Listed here are some of those factors: temperature, humidity, radiation, acidity and atmospheric pollutants. There are some very complicated mathematical formulas that can model the degradation of bacteria.
In addition to that, the effects of biological weapons are often delayed. This is called the incubation period and it can range from less than a day to possibly a week. This is a disadvantage since the adversary is still active until the agent begins to hamper them.
HOW BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS ARE PRODUCED
Put briefly the production of biological weapons can be separated into three general stages.
First stage: The producer must choose which biological agent to get and obtain it. Or if a toxin is required then a method of production must be acquired.
Second stage: After the agent has been grown and multiplied to the sufficient quantity, various selection and modification procedures can be used to change certain traits and characteristics of the microoorganism.
Third stage: Preparing for delivery and distribution.
Lets start on the first stage. Several factors must be taken into account when selecting an agent. Things like the agents pathogenicity must be considered. Pathogencity refers to how much of the agent can cause disease. Incubation, which is the time between exposure and illness has to be considered. Also, virulence and transmissibility are considered, which respectably are the lethality of the agent and how easily the disease is spread from person to person.
There are two places that a pathogen can be acquired: the natural environment and in a microbiology lab or bank. When the agent is taken from an environmental source like soil, water or possibly already infected animals, there has to be enough that can be otained for purification and testing of its characteristics. Acquiring a pathogen from a lab or bank is extremely hard to accomplish given the advanced security measures.
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| Anthrax fermentation vessel |
fierce weapon.
Generally, viruses are a lot easier to obtain than they are to create. To create a virus, the actual living cell is required. They can be grown in Petri dishes or fermentation vats, however growing large amounts is difficult as it requires a lot of space, special equipment and not to mention the high cost. Also there would be safety concerns related from handling dangerous substances.
Finally the delivery of an agent is crucial to the effectiveness of the weapon. If the agent gets destroyed by the 'elements' or nature as soon as it is released then essentially all the hard work has gone to waste. Some pathogens like the anthrax bacteria are tougher than others, anthrax can encapsulate itself into a strong lasting spore that can resist most conditions. Other agents on the other hand require further enhancements to make them more tolerant to environmental stresses. Some of the procedures include: direct freeze drying; formulation into a special stabilizing solid, liquid, or gaseous solution; deep freezing; and powdering and milling.
Many of these above techniques are actually used in science for good reasons. This lends to the ethical problem of 'dual-use' where the same techniques and knowledge used for beneficial work is being used for cruel intentions.
