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In 1972, R.I.S.E, a terrorist group was found to be guilty for contaminating Chicago’s water supply. The alleged plot to poison water was led by Steve Pera and Allan Schwander. The then commissioner of the Chicago’s water and sewage commission regarded the attack as a scheme of harebrained people and could not have worked. Typhoid germs were introduced to the drinking water supply by two college students, Pera and Schwander. However, the commissioner said that any plan to contaminate water will fail because of the chlorine being continuously pumped to water supplies every day. With that, Typhoid bacteria won’t be able to survive the said procedure. Apart from Chlorine, the water filtration plants are guarded 24/7 so plans of any attack won’t be feasible. The two students were held in Cook County Jail and had a bond of $250,000 each. Pera and Schwander were 18 and 19 years old, respectively, during the said attack. According to investigations, RISE, the terrorist group formed by the two suspects, were created to create the basis of the newly formed master race. The bacterial culture was prepared by Pera in Mayfair City College’s laboratory where deadly microorganisms are abundant. In fact, Pera used to work as a volunteer in St. Lukes Hospital but was terminated because of his attempt to acquire unauthorized chemicals (The Ledger, 1972).
Although the attempt of contaminating the water supply failed because of the standard procedure followed by Chicago, it cannot be guaranteed that citizens will always be safe from water contamination. According to Friis et al. (2013), national emergency due to terrorist attacks, disaster or bioterrorism threats, is faced with specified protocols that are based on the Homeland Security Act of 2002....

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... that train and educate people about certain diseases. Through education, citizens will know how to respond on special scenario, such as in the case of being infected with Typhoid fever, even without the immediate assistance from healthcare representatives. Likewise, people will know the signs of Typhoid fever which will help them know the important steps to avoid the worsening of their conditions. Further, the availability of emergency health providers will help in preventing the worsening of health conditions if in any case, contamination has already occurred. Also, the local government agencies that monitor the water lines are a big help in preventing bioterrorism on water supplies. If these agencies will miss cleaning the pipelines or the water itself, there’s a big chance for bioterrorism to take place. Thus, local agencies should be consistent with their jobs.