Biological Weapons: Bioterrorism and the Public Health
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Medical Association for Prevention of War www.mapw.org.au Archived Resource Biological Weapons: Bioterrorism and the Public Health Date: 2000 Author: Kate Leeson MEDACT (SA), Adelaide About MEDACT (SA) MEDACT (SA) is the South Australian Branch of MAPW, the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia). MAPW is an organisation of doctors and other health professionals with the following mission statement: The central objective of the organization is to relieve and prevent the human death and suffering which arise from war and preparations for war, including civil conflict. To this end, the Association will engage in research, education and advocacy, and in particular will: i. educate medical and other health practitioners, governments and the general public about the consequences to health of war and its preparations, especially nuclear, biological and chemical warfare; ii. work for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction; iii. urge that the excessive financial, technical and human resources spent on armaments be directed to uses which promote the health and welfare of humanity; iv. examine the psychological mechanisms by which people come to accept war as a necessity; v. promote non-violent means of conflict resolution at all levels. MAPW is the Australian affiliate of International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a long-established global federation of medical organisations holding aims similar to those of MAPW. IPPNW received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1985 for the cooperation of physicians from countries on both sides of the Cold War in the education of decision-makers and the general public about the realities of a nuclear attack on human populations and its advocacy of the urgent need to prevent nuclear war. IPPNW and MAPW continue to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. About the author Kate Leeson is employed as the Editorial Assistant of the Hawke Institute at the University of South Australia, and she also works as a freelance editor, researcher and writer. She has qualifications in law and politics, has taught feminist theory, and has a longstanding association with the peace movement. She was the co-author of Landmines: a global health crisis, published by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in 1997. Medical Association for Prevention of War www.mapw.org.au Kate Leeson: Bioterrorism and the public health Acknowledgments The preparation of this book has been funded by a generous grant by the Poola Foundation of Victoria to MAPW. MEDACT (SA) and the author would like to thank Scott Cameron, Robert Hall and Rod Givney from the Communicable Disease Control Branch of the South Australian Department of Human Services and Ian Maddocks for their helpful advice and their comments on earlier drafts of this book. Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................ 6 Chapter 1: What are biological weapons? ................................................................ 8 Definitions ........................................................................................................ 8 Likely agents .................................................................................................... 8 Weapons targeting plants and livestock ................................................................ 9 New technology and biological weapons ............................................................... 9 Preparation and dissemination .......................................................................... 10 Dangers for would-be biological attackers ........................................................... 11 Effects of a biological attack .............................................................................. 12 Chapter 2: Biological warfare agents ..................................................................... 14 Anthrax ......................................................................................................... 14 Plague ........................................................................................................... 15 Tularaemia ..................................................................................................... 16 Q fever .......................................................................................................... 16 Influenza ....................................................................................................... 16 Smallpox ....................................................................................................... 17 Viral encephalitises .......................................................................................... 18 Viral haemorrhagic fevers ................................................................................. 18 Botulinum toxin .............................................................................................. 19 Staphylococcal enterotoxin B ............................................................................ 19 Chapter 3: History and use of biological weapons ................................................... 20 Early history of the use of biological weapons ...................................................... 20 Germany ........................................................................................................ 20 2 Medical Association for Prevention of War www.mapw.org.au Kate Leeson: Bioterrorism and the public health Japan ............................................................................................................ 21 United Kingdom .............................................................................................. 22 United States .................................................................................................. 22 Soviet Union ................................................................................................... 24 The Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak .................................................................... 25 Southern Rhodesia .......................................................................................... 26 South Africa ................................................................................................... 26 Cold War allegations of biological weapons use .................................................... 27 Iraq .............................................................................................................. 27 Offensive biological weapons programs today ...................................................... 29 Chapter 4: Bioterrorism: the threat and the realities ............................................... 30 Aum Shinrikyo ................................................................................................ 33 The Rajneeshee salmonella case ........................................................................ 34 Other examples of terrorist possession and use of biological weapons ..................... 34 Chapter 5: Responding to the threat ..................................................................... 36 Biodefence research ........................................................................................ 37 Biological defence research in Australia .............................................................. 38 Distinguishing offensive and defensive research ................................................... 38 Mass vaccination and vaccination of military personnel ......................................... 39 Military control of biodefence ............................................................................ 39 Proposals for international civilian biodefence ...................................................... 41 Scorpio ....................................................................................................... 41 Global epidemiological surveillance ................................................................. 41 Grant assistance to former Soviet scientists ..................................................... 42 Civilian vaccine research ................................................................................ 42 Preventive medicine is the best biodefence ......................................................... 42 What to do in the event of a biological attack ...................................................... 43 The 1972 smallpox epidemic in Yugoslavia: the importance of prompt recognition of unusual disease outbreaks ................................................................................ 46 Chapter 6: Legal control of biological weapons ....................................................... 48 3 Medical Association for Prevention of War www.mapw.org.au Kate Leeson: Bioterrorism and the public health Geneva Protocol .............................................................................................. 48 Biological Weapons Convention ......................................................................... 48 Strengthening the convention ........................................................................... 49 Chapter 7: Scientific research and ethics ............................................................... 52 Biodefence research ........................................................................................ 54 Appendix 1: Biological weapons convention ........................................................... 56 Convention on the Prohibition of the 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