BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE - A BRIEF INTRO

Biological warfare refers to the use of biological agents and toxins as weapons. Instead of the usual guns and bombs that war is generally associated with, bioweapons poison or infect their victims. Generally leading to a slower and less obvious death.

Although it may not sound quite as frightening (or maybe it does), the effects of biological weapons are potentially greater than even that of an atomic bomb. One example to prove this, was the 2001 Anthrax attack in the United States, only one week after the September 11^th attack on the World Trade Center. Anthrax spores were mailed inside envelopes, to various high profile targets killing five people and affecting many others. Aside from the fact that it was deadly, the attack also caused a mass disruption in the mail service and also over $100 million to clean up the spores. And all of this was caused by just one person or a small group of people. Evidently, the effects of bio-attacks are extremely frightening.

Biological weapons or biological warfare can also be referred to as 'germ warfare' because of the large number of germs used in biological weapons. Many diseases and germs can be used in biological weapons including smallpox, Ebola and anthrax. Although biological weapons seem like a relatively new concept, they have actually been used since ancient times. For example the Assyrians contaminated enemy wells with ergot to trigger hallucinations and Greeks threw poisonous snakes onto enemy ships, and the British gave smallpox-infested blankets to Native Americans.