Use Of Biological Agents example essay topic

. This horrid use of warfare uses disease to cause terrible pain and suffering, and to kill humans, military personnel, plants, and livestock. The techniques to develop biological weapons are unethical and repulsive; therefore the use of biological agents to eliminate a certain group is offensive and should not be permitted. One of the earliest biological attacks took place in 1346 in the Black Sea port of Kaffa. Rats and their fleas carried the disease to the Tatar soldiers.

In spitefulness, the Tatars threw gave the Indians small pox infested blankets from a hospital to keep warm during the cold nights. By using these blankets, the biological agent small pox went through the Indian community and killed a lot of Native Americans. Then in 1932 the Japanese began doing experiments on the Chinese outside of Manchuria. Eleven Chinese cities were contaminated with the biological agents of anthrax, cholera, shigellosis, salmonella, and the plague. During these attacks, ten thousand Chinese people died.

Even the United States started a biological offensive program in 1932 at Camp Detrick, Maryland. Ten years later the program began. In 1969, the United States had biological agents like anthrax, botulism, tularemia, brucellosis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, and Q fever. These were destroyed after President Nixon ended the U.S. offensive biological warfare program later in 1969. Weapons Convention stating that they would never stockpile, produce, develop, acquire, or keep biological agents. Even though many countries signed this convention, the production of biological weapons has continued.

A biological agent called yellow rain was released in Asia, which caused thousands of deaths between 1974 and 1981. In 1978, Georgi Markov, from Bulgaria was shot and murdered with an umbrella gun that contained ricin. In 1972, approximately 66 people died of inhalation anthrax when a spray of bacillus anthracis spores was released from a facility in the USSR. By 1991, the Iraqis had created anthrax, botulinum toxin, and aflatoxin. Luckily, these were not used in Iraq during Desert Storm against the Americans.

However, by 1996 the United Nations destroyed what was left of Iraq's supplies (Biological Warfare and its Cutaneous Manifestations). The reason that biological weapons are terrible and never should be used is because of their effectiveness. It is said that 1 gram of toxin could kill 10 million people. Botulinum toxin is roughly 316 X greater than an area that could be affected with Sarin. The cost is another huge factor in producing biological weapons.

By using conventional weapons it would cost around $2000 to contaminate 1 sq. km, $800 using nuclear weapons, $600 using chemical weapons, and only $1.00 using biological agents. This is why biological weapons are often called the Poor Man's Atomic Bomb. A nation that has a pharmaceutical and medical industry has the capability of producing biological weapons. One of the worst things is where you can place the biological agent to give to the opponent.

Anything from a piece of fruit to a ballistic missile can be used to distribute a biological agent to its goal. Only a few particles would be needed to start an infection that could cause an outbreak and destroy many people (Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology). There are not many advantages of biological weapons for the enemy but the weather is one major advantage that is in the countries favor that doesn't use these weapons. The weather is important if the leader is concerned about their troops. A prime example of this is what happened on Gruinard Island. An uncontrollable spread took place and left humans all over the island would be when to send your troops in.

The last advantage the biological weapons have is the disgrace associated with its use. Just think of a child that is bleeding out of every opening of their body, bleeding blood and also their liquefied internal organs. Then imagine a ruler of a country being accused of causing this to happen for military gains. I don't think many people will abide by and listen to him anymore because of this grueling way of killing (Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology). There are many classifications of biological agents. Biological weapons are classified into Viruses, Bacteria, Rickettsia, biological toxins, and genetically changed organisms.

The viruses include Ebola, Hanta Virus, and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE). Ebola causes a terrible fever and Hanta causes a fever with complications and respiratory suffering. VEE is a virus that infects the central nervous system and causes swelling of the brain. All of these viruses can be deadly.

Some bacterial weapons include an agent called Vibrio cholera, which causes severe fluid loss of up to 1 liter per hour. Yersinia pestis, which is the plague, causes lung fever and swelling of the lymph nodes. Anthrax or Bacillus anthracis enters in your nose and mouth which then incubates for a couple of days and then death occurs. There are many others less painful; but still are pathogenic species like Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus (Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology).

A different biological agent is Rickettsia, an organism that infects the parasites of humans. Some other agents are Coxiella burnett i, which causes Q fever. Another biological agent is Rickettsia prowasecki, and the symptoms include fever and trouble to the central nervous system. The two most dangerous toxins connected with biological warfare are botulinum and clostridium perfringens toxins. The clostridium toxin is n to go necrotic by slowly suffocating them.

This organism can also cause a necrotism of flesh (Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology). Another group of organisms that are used for biological warfare use are genetically created organisms. Typically, it would be a natural biological agent that is distorted. These distorted agents are dangerous and less prone to current treatments. (Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology). Many countries agree that biological weapons are cruel and should never be used for any reason against any country.

However, not everyone agrees on this issue. Some countries think of biological warfare as an easy, cheap way to possess weapons of mass destruction. There is no easy way to find out what countries have Biological warfare programs. These programs are funded and supported by the government and are intended.