The New Nation - Internet Edition

Md. Zamir Uddin Khan

At present we are living in the age of science. In this modern time everything is changeable with the development. As the science and technology has brought a lot of benefits to ease our life but we have found some bad cultures also with the advancement of knowledge. One of the most dangerous among these is the competition of making mass destructive weapons to practice power among the countries of the world. The malpractice has turned to its worst stage when the use of bio-weapons has been started. In this case various micro organisms like bacteria, viruses or other germs (agents) or toxins are used intentionally to cause illness or death in people, animals or plants. Sometimes this is spread by a modification of these micro-organisms which causes a great harm to the whole environment. There is a cause of using micro organism in such destructive activities and it is the unique characteristics of micro organisms of quick reproduction. By applying some genetic modification the micro-organisms are further strengthened so that these become more destructive for a particular human community. The act of using micro-organism as a weapon to destroy a human community is generally called bioterrorism.

INTERPOL defines it as "Bioterrorism refers to the intentional release of biologic agents or toxins for the purpose of harming and killing humans, animals and plants with the intent to intimidate or coerce a government or civilian population to further political or social objectives." It can be further generalized as it is the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents like bacteria, viruses or other germs or toxins found in naturally-occurring or in a human modified form to cause illness or death in people, animals or plant. The persons or groups who are associated with bioterrorism are known as the bioterrorists. Why micro organisms are used as weapon?: Now the question comes that for what reason terrorists or attackers prefer the bio-weapons for destruction other than the modern weapons. The answer is very simple and that is the biological agents ate typically found in nature and it is easy to change these genetically to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment. Biological agents can easily be spread through the air, water and in food. As it is very difficult to trace the criminal who spread it and so the terrorists favor it to spread the panic among people and to make their demand fulfilled. Some bioterrorism agents are contagious and some is very easy to spread such as anthrax which is possible to spread by even a letter. So to evade detection and to avoid risk criminals prefer the biological agents to cause much destruction to human and the environment as well. Types of bioterrorism agents: Based on the severity of illness and the time of spreading bioterrorism agents are separated in three categories. These are category A agents, category B agents and Category C agents. Among these, category A poses the highest risk and category C poses comparatively lowest risks among the categories. These are given in the following as the snapshots. Category A: These are the agents including the highest risk to the public and national security. The special features of category A agents are-

Theses are very much contagious and can easily be transmitted from person.

These result high death rates and severe deterioration of health.

These cause public panic and social disruption and require special action. Anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulism, tularemia and viral hemorrhagic fevers are the category A agents which are used in bioterrorism. Category B: The agents of this category is comparatively less risky for health and life comparatively with category A. the characteristics of category B agents are- ·

These are moderately easy to spread.

These cause less illness rate and death.

These require a proper clinical surveillance for the affected people. ·

These affects firstly to the animals and then from the animals humans become infected. Brucellosis fevers are the category B agents which are mainly infectious in nature. Category C: Category C agents are the pathogens that have a high possibility of massive use in future by genetic engineering for having the special features as-·

These are easily available.

These can be easily produced and spread..·

They have potential for high morbidity ad mortality rates and major health impact. Nipah virus, Hantavirus and multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (MTB) are the category C agents. How it is threat to the environment: As the micro organisms used for the bioterrorism agents are very contagious that is why it affects the animals, human being and plants. Thus these bioterrorism agents can destroy the bio-diversity of a particular area which if is occurred in a large area may cause deforestation and the environment may lost its balance which may cause a massive human and animal death. Thus this may be a cause of the ruin of civilization. So, early intervention and preventive system should be adopted to combat the bio-terrorism. Some hatred incidents of bioterrorism: The use of biological weapons has been more rare than the use of chemical weapons. In the 14th century, plague-infected cadavers purportedly were catapulted into an enemy camp in the Russian Crimea. In colonial America, the British delivered blankets from their smallpox infirmary to Native Americans, hoping to infect them with the disease. In the 20th century, the only extensive military biological attacks were by Japan against China in the late 1930s and 1940s. The Japanese dropped plague and other bacteria from airplanes over several towns, causing outbreaks of disease. Until 2001, the only known terrorist use of a biological weapon in the United States occurred in 1984. Members of the Rajneesh cult in Oregon placed salmonella bacteria in the salad bars of several restaurants.

At least 750 people became ill, although none died. Conclusion: The use of bio-weapons indicates the barbarian and colonial mentality of the countries using it. These are very much harmful for the human being and the environment. Global opinion should be formed to stop the use of bio-weapons because it is the way of self destroying for the mankind. The international conventions and treaties should be strictly followed to stop and ban the use of it and to restrict the research in laboratories.