In the past century, over 500 million people died of infectious diseases and a significant portion of these deaths caused due to the intentional release of pathogens. The Definition of bioterrorism have been evolving over time and differs from source to source. However, recent definitions of bioterrorism describe “the use of potential biological agents as weapons of disastrous effect which includes a significant adverse impact on a nation’s physical, psychological or economic well-being, resulting in a major modification of routine activity.” Geneva Protocol of June 17, 1925, and The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) April 10, 1972, outlaws biological weapons, but have largely failed to stop countries from conducting experiments on offensive weapons. Modified pathogens could comprise devastating agents used as biological warfare. Both treaties failed to prevent interested parties from developing and using biological agents as warfare. The Soviet project shows that international treaties are useless. The Soviet Union produced and stockpiled tons of anthrax bacilli and smallpox virus, few of them to use in intercontinental ballistic missiles, and engineered multidrug-resistant bacteria, including plague and remained secret for a long time.
During the First World War and Second World, biological weapons were developed and tested against the enemy. The father of the Japanese biological weapons programme, Shiro Ishii, commander of Unit 731, ran one of the most notorious programmes in history. He started his research in 1930 at The Tokyo Army Medical School and eventually became head of Japan’s bioweapon programme during the Second World War. The programme killed nearly 600 prisoners a year in human experiments and tested at least 25 different disease-causing agents on prisoners.
Modern civilization is witnessing a renewed interest in potential biological agent and bioterrorism. For example, the information that Iraq has been developing biological weapons, bestselling novels on biological attacks, and the anthrax letters mailed in the USA. Recently, papers on anti-crop agents were self-censored before publication and therefore Journal editors now recommend special scrutiny for sensitive papers. Unfortunately, the application of available knowledge is certain enough to kill.
As history tells us, despite efforts were made to forbid the use of biological weapons. Yet, it remains a matter of serious concern and we are vulnerable through indirect attacks including livestock or crops, which has also been termed as agroterrorism. However, looking back at the past where the number of governments that produced weaponized aerosizable anthrax, the lethality and the potential availability, Anthrax remains a subject of major concern.
Ironic that the knowledge that is needed to develop drugs and vaccines to save lives, the same knowledge has the potential to be used for the development of biological weapons to end one.