Bioterrorism is the release and
dissemination of biological agents with the intention of causing disease in
humans, animals, and plants and cause panic among human societies. These
agents—bacteria, viruses or toxins are most often mutated and altered to enhance
their disease causing ability and resistance to modern medicine available
against them.
Mostly these attacks like
Ameritrax are intended to infect humans. On other occasions these agents like
foot-and-mouth disease virus are used to cause economic damage while they have
no capacity to infect humans.
In 1915 and 1916 USA and Russia
arrested two alleged German agent who had tried to infect horses with glanders
in both the countries. In 1972 two college students were arrested who had
planned to poison Chicago's water supply with typhoid and other bacteria. In
1984 in Oregon, followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh infected salad bars,
doorknobs and other public dominions in an attempt to sway public election in
their favour. The attack left 751 people with severe food poisoning. There were
no fatalities however. In June 1993 the religious group Aum Shinrikyo released
anthrax bacteria in Tokyo. Luckily the attack in such a crowded metropolitan
proved to be a failure because the bacteria used were vaccine grade and could
not cause any symptoms. The 21st century has thus far seen one major
bioterrorist attack when letters laced with spores of anthrax were sent to news
media offices and the U.S congress in September 2001. These letters killed 5
people. Some people argue that dengue outbreak in 2011 in Punjab was also a
bioterrorist attack. In 2014 letters addressed to U.S Senator Roger wicker and
U.S President Obama were intercepted at the U.S capitol. Both of these letters
tested positive for ricin.
Since 1971 there have been more
than 110,000 terrorist attacks worldwide and 33 of them have been biological.18
of the 34 bio-terrorism incidents occurred during the year 2001. Before 2001
there were 10 incidents and since 2001 there were 8.
Bioterrorism is a powerful weapon, owing to its
access, easy dissemination and the panic it causes which is beyond the actual
physical damage it causes. Military leaders and governments have learned its
limitations as a military asset as it is not a friendly force and does not distinguish
between friend and foe. Terrorists on the other hand are free lancers and in
their hands it is a weapon of mass destruction since they know no limits
whatsoever of this weapon and can and will deploy it anywhere as long as it
satisfies and promotes their agenda.
Indeed in previous cases when
bioterrorist attacks were carried out the actors had access to large amounts of
funding and scientists. Funding and willing scientists do not however guarantee
success. The claim was thus made that biological weapons are not only expensive
but they require advanced technical training to make and to effectively carry
out acts of terrorism with. Many experts would today argue that the cost &
expertise barrier makes the threat from biological attacks extremely small.
This statement is supported by the evidence that the majority of attacks have
taken place in Western countries and were performed by Western citizens with
advanced training in scientific research.
Despite the lack of biological
attacks in the past decade, there are a number of dangerous and motivated
organisations that have or are actively pursuing biological weapons. The most
outspoken of these has been the global Al Qaeda network, whose leaders have
frequently called for the development of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The primary
message from Al Qaeda has included the call to use biological Weapons of Mass
Destruction to terrorise Western nations. Al Qaeda had a particular focus on
biological and nuclear weapons because of their potential for greatest harm.
The rapid advancements in genetic
engineering can be a game changer, giving organisations pursuing biological
weapons more variety and encouraging other organisations to consider it as
potential weapon for the satisfaction of their agenda. Because the difficulty
for attaining biological weapons has been lessened and is likely to continue to
be lessened as more advances in biotechnology are made, it is important that
the international community begins to frame policy that protects advances in
science that acts to prevent the intentional abuse of synthetic biology.
Disregarding this consideration will be costly period! A successful attack with
a potent bioweapon, where no pharmaceutical interferences exist, will be deadly
and the impact of such an attack will echo around the globe because bioweapons
are not bound by international borders.
A similar kind of tool used by
terrorist organisations is chemical weapons. The first successful use of
chemical agents by terrorists was in 1994, when Aum Shinrikyo, released sarin
gas in Matsumoto, Japan, killing 8 and harming 200. In 1995, Aum Shinrikyo released
sarin into the Tokyo subway system killing 12 and injuring over 5,000. The next
mass use of chemical weapons was seen in the Syrian Civil War on 21st
August 2013 in which Syrian government used it against its own population.
Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and UN formed a
joint mission after investigation by UN revealed their presence at a large
scale in Syria. OPCW was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for its work in Syria.
A similar organisation by the
name of Biological Weapons Convention (BCW) exists to prevent governments from
stacking biological weapons at a large scale or at a small scale but such an
organisation fails when it comes to prevent biological weapons falling in the
hands of terrorist organisations. The world is changing and so is the potential
of biological weapons. The dense populations make it easier for the
dissemination of biological weapons. A potent biological weapon can result into
something similar as bubonic plague only this time the effect would be global.
What the world needs is an organisation like OPCW which would work to make sure
that no such biological agent falls in the wrong hands and make the world a
safe place to live.