Bioterrorism: Can We Deal with
It?
Source: United Press International UPI
December 2, 2000
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (UPI) -- No one gave much thought
to the outdated and archaic voting system being used in Florida (and
several other states) until it was too late. Much like the
presidential elections, the same can be said about potential
bioterrorism threats and how the country could cope with such a
problem.
"It takes a crisis for people to react," said Larry
Grossman, former president of NBC news. Grossman was addressing a
workshop on bioterrorism and the media organized by the Atlanta’s
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida’s Pinellas County
board of supervisors and the University of Southern Florida.
"The time to prepare is now," added Grossman. An
excellent statement. Yet, not many people would know where to start,
or exactly what bioterrorism involves.
Biological terrorism is the intentional use of
microorganisms or toxins derived from living organisms to produce
death or disease in humans, animals or plants.
Biological agents as weapons of mass destruction are
becoming more of a possibility than many of us care to realize.
They are often called the "poor man’s weapon," because
of their low price when compared to other weapons of mass destruction.
Consider these figures provided to the United Nations by
an expert panel in 1969: A large-scale operation against a civilian
population using conventional weapons might cost $2,000 per square
kilometer, $800 with nerve gas and only $1 with biological agents. One
dollar! Granted, these prices
are outdated by some 30 years, but still, you get the drift.
Furthermore, biological weapons such as anthrax, for
example, have a far greater "kill" capacity. A 1970 study by the World
Heath Organization shows that the effect of a "hypothetical
dissemination by aircraft of 50kg of anthrax along a 2km line, upwind
of a population center of 500,000 would
kill 95,000 and incapacitate 125,000."
Those are astounding figures.
The big question now is that, if and when that threat
materializes, will we, as a nation, be ready to deal with it?
At an Oct.19 hearing of the Senate Armed Services
Committee investigating the recent terrorist attack on the USS Cole,
here is what retired Marine general and former Commander-in-Chief of
the U.S. Central Command Anthony Zinni had to say: "We will eventually
see a weapon of mass destruction used
in a terrorist act. And, I would say we had better start thinking
about how we’re going to be prepared for the threat, because we’re
woefully unprepared for that event, and that’s inevitable."
This was precisely the issue being discussed in Florida
Thursday and Friday by dozens of federal, state and county officials,
scientists, scholars and media representatives.
After two days of deliberations, there was still no
clear or concise answer, other than "the need to prevent panic."
"Biological warfare may not seem an immediate threat to
many Americans, but, in fact, the risk of this sort of human
destruction is real," said Faith Fitzgerald, a professor of medicine
at the University of California-Davis School of Medicine.
Fitzgerald spoke on biological warfare and its
consequences during a recent lecture sponsored by the Brown University
School of Medicine chapter of the Alpha Omega Honor Medical Society.
"The effects of biological warfare don’t have to be
intentional," she added. "In 1979, in Sverdlosvsk, Russia, there was
an epidemic in which 66 Russians died from the inhalation of anthrax."
The United States has had its fair share of homegrown
terrorism. "As long as there are people out there who are crazy ... we
will have to be concerned about this," Fitzgerald said.
She listed 23 viruses which could be used to wage
biological warfare. Of these, she stated, smallpox and the 1918
influenza virus were most likely for harm.
Numerous Western nations produce and stockpile
biological (and chemical) agents, as do several so-called "rogue
nations." Iraq, for example, is known to have the capability to
manufacture and disseminate biological and chemical weapons of mass
destruction.
This, in fact, was a real concern for U.S. and other
coalition troops fighting the Iraqis during Desert Storm in 1991.It
was also a concern of Israelis, who came under repeated attack by
Iraqi Scud missiles. Dozens of such missiles hit Tel Aviv and other
Israeli cities, although none contained
chemical or biological agents.
Saddam Hussein had, in fact, used biological weapons
against his own people in Kurdish villages some years before his
invasion of Kuwait. Women and children were among his many casualties.
Bioterror weapons of mass destruction can also be
delivered through other means, such as aerosol or garden sprayers.
The outbreak of West Nile virus in the United States
posed enough of an enigma to attract the attention of the CIA and
other federal agencies. The virus hit parts of New York City, and
later traveled north as far as Vermont and south to the Carolinas last
summer.
Similar strains of the West Nile virus have been found
in Egypt, Israel and Iraq. Scientists familiar with the case admit
there is no sure way to prove whether the virus migrated naturally
from these places or was "humanly introduced" -- that is, as part of a
terrorist operation directed
against the United States.
As Gen. Zinni said during the Cole hearing: "All we can
do is continue to prepare our people; to make them aware, to learn"--a
theme echoed by the Florida panel of experts.
Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
by Claude Salhani
http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=140716
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