Biological Warefare Essay Research Paper Imagine sitting

Biological Warefare Essay, Research Paper

Imagine sitting in a subway car on the way to the office for another day of work, when suddenly you can not breath. You look around and notice that other people around you are having the same problem. You push and shove other people aside to try and get to the door, but the doors are sealed shut. People are yelling, screaming and pounding on the doors tyring to get out. But no one is coming to help. People are starting to loose consciousness. In this incident there were no technical errors or problem with the circulation of air. It was a colourless, odourless, and tasteless chemical agent that was used by terrorists. This story actually happened in the busy subways of China. Everyone on the subway suffocated to death. Biological and chemical arsenals are effective in eliminating a large number of people in a short period of time. It is economical, efficient and swift. The victim is unaware of the chemicals effects. The poisonous gases can be distributed immediately or time released. As technology advances, so does our capability to design and manufacture more deadlier and dangerous weapons.

Biological Warfare

Biological weapons are the harmful use of micro organisms or toxins that attack a person or animals body at the cellular level. This is also called germ warfare. These micro organisms can cause vomiting, convulsions, headaches, involuntary defecation, impair visibility and can also be lethal. Biological Engineering allows scientist to create new virus strains that are even more deadlier and efficient. Only a small number of these organisms could kill millions of people in a few seconds, if it is properly distributed. Biological weapons have many effective possibilities. They can cause soldiers to become sick and unable to fight. Biological weapons can also infect an enemy’s crops or water supply and damage them.

Chemical Warefare

Chemical agents affect the nervous system, breathing, skin, eyes, nose, or any other body part. Chemicals come in many shapes and sizes, they can be in the form of a gas, liquid, sprays and powders. The chemical can be colourless, odourless and tasteless which makes it hard for a person to know what is going on until it is too late. Some chemical agents are not deadly like tear gas which only causes a person to start coughing, crying and unable to breath until they catch a fresh breeze. This gas has been used frequently by police to stop riots. But other chemicals can be fatal just in one breath.

History of Biological and Chemical Weapons

Biological and chemical arsenals are not a new tactic to war. Humans had developed primitive forms of biological warfare for thousands of years. In Medieval times, corpses were catapulted into an enemy’s fortress. The body would be infected with a deadly disease that would spread with the enclosed walls of the castle. This tactic was used by the Romans. Disease infected bodies were also put into streams near the enemies castle. This would make the enemies water supply infested with deadly micro organisms. The oldest record use of germ warfare dates back to 600 BC, when the Athenians used hellebores (skunk cabbage) to contaminate the River Plieisthines. The defenders of Kurha suffered violent diarrhea that led to their defeat. The first use of poisonous gas was in the Peloponnesian war between 431- 404 BC. The Spartans would burn wood that was saturated with pitch and sulphur, to release a sulphur dioxide gas. In 200 BC, a Carthaginian general ordered his soldiers to retreat and leave behind wine poisoned with mandragora. Mandragora is a narcotic which makes a person fall asleep. The enemy soldiers drank the wine, and while they were sleeping the Carthaginian soldiers slaughtered them. The Britains covered North American Indians with blankets that were infected with small pox.

In World War 1, biological and chemical arsenals started to be used in large scale attacks. A abandoned island named Gruinard, off the coast of Britain was dedicated to experimenting with biological weapons. No one is allowed to live there or even land on the island and all information was regarded classified. The first victims were sheep, they were bought from local farmers and shipped to the island. The three leading scientists involved in the experiment were explosive expert, Major Allan Younger, bacteriologist named Dr. David Henderson and Graham Sutton who was in charge of the experimental work. The scientists goal was to see if they could create a biological bomb. Writers such as Aldous Huxley and Winston Churchill predicted wars involving biological weapons. Their books told stories of “Pestilences methodically prepared and deliberately launched upon man and beast…Blight to destroy crops, Anthrax to slay horses and cattle, Plague to poison not armies only but whole districts- such are the lines alone which military science is remorselessly advancing.”

The scientists looked like they were in a science fiction movie with their rubber boots, tick gloves and sleek suites. They filled a bomb with brown, thick goo. Also known as Anthrax. This virus was considered the most efficient bacteria for a biological weapon because it was very infectious and deadly. Every sheep exposed to the bomb was killed. “They were incontrovertible proof that biological warfare was no longer just a nightmare science fiction fantasy: it could be made