The morning of September 11, 2001, Americans experienced vulnerability and realized a new fear, the threat of a bioterrorist attack. In the days that followed the terrorist attacks letters tainted with anthrax began appearing in the U.S. mail. Five Americans were killed and 17 were sickened in what became the worst biological attacks in U.S. history (“Amerithrax or Anthrax Investigation”). Bioterrorism is defined as a criminal act against unsuspecting civilians and a threat to national security with the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or germs. An attack of bioterrorism is meant to cause illness or death by microorganisms that are found in nature, but they can be made more harmful because of an increased ability to cause and spread disease which resists medical treatment. These biological agents can spread from person to person or can be released into the food supply, water, or air. They can be hard to detect because they may not cause illness for hours or several days, thus giving terrorists an advantage allowing them to go escape undetected until symptoms arise and an attack is suspected. Biological weapons are appealing because they are often easy to obtain and inexpensive, and can be easily distributed. The main objective of bioterrorism is to cause panic and terror, not necessarily casualties. The social disruption they cause can be far worse than any actual damage.
The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, brought to light the need to enhance the security of the United States and brought about the spending of billions of government and private spending to defend the U.S. against a possible future act of bioterrorism. Congress passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Respons...
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...atment. While eliminating future bioterrism attacks may not a reality, successful containment I feel is a more realistic goal which requires us to be prepared by properly educating those first responders involved, effective preparation and planning, as well as efficient communication. Bioterrorism not only has immediate effects on health care and public health agencies but also includes long lasting economic impacts. Psychologically citizens experience heightened fear and change of their daily routines. This results in long lasting psychological effects adding to the trauma of the actual event as well impacting the United States socially and economically. The question will not be if an attack will occur, but rather when and how prepared will we be both immediately following an event, and in dealing with the long lasting consequences economically and socially.
Guillemin, J. (2005). Biological weapons: From the invention of state-sponsored programs to contemporary bioterrorism Columbia University Press.
Anthrax is one of the most preferred biological warfare agents for many highly identified reasons. First, anthrax is extremely lethal. Anthrax can contain up to 100 million lethal doses in just one gram of anthrax spores, which is 100,000 times more lethal than any other biological warfare agent. It is also known that inhalation anthrax is almost always fatal if the symptoms are allowed to progress without any treatment. Anthrax is also the silent and invisible killer. On top of the fatality rate of anthrax, there are also very low barriers to produce the biological weapon. Anthrax spores are very easy to produce in large quantities, and the process of production is very inexpensive. Also, there is plenty of available information on how to weaponize anthrax and not a whole lot of technology is needed to be able to produce anthrax. Anthrax is also easy to weaponize because it is extremely stable as a dry powder in the form of spores. These spores can live for decades and still be very lethal to the human body. Anthrax can be put into an aerosol form disseminated into a spray can, and it can also be freeze-dried into a bomb. Presently anthrax is the most preferred biological agent is because we have no accurate detection capability.
The 2001 anthrax attacks was one of the worst bio-weapon attacks on the US in history. The attacks where done through the mail. The anthrax was placed in envelopes with a letter and mailed from various locations to different people and organizations. The anthrax filled letters ended up killing 5 people, causing 17 to become sick and exposing anthrax it is believed to as many as 30,000 people. During the mail process spores of anthrax from the letters escaped and got on mailroom equipment exposing postal employees. If a person was exposed to enough anthrax and developed symptoms they typically died in a few days. Postal workers during the attacks where told that anthrax will appear as a white powder t...
"History of Bioterrorism." Chronological. Office of The Surgeon General, Department of the Army, 1997. Web. 22 July 2012. http://www.bio-terry.com/HistoryBioTerr.html
Ecoterrorism is hard to define. It is used by the FBI and other government agencies to describe individuals or groups that use arson and sabotage against property, equipment, materials, or facilities that they feel are being used to destroy the environment. This is known as direct action and many such direct action tactics exist such as ecotage, eco-drama and monkeywrenching. Ecotage Acts of major economic sabotage that are designed to hurt the profits of businesses that radical environmentalists believe are profiting from environmentally harmful practices. Eco-drama (Staging non-violent, often illicit events that cause no property damage, but that are designed for the sake of gaining media attention for an environmental cause or to expose an environmental abuse. This type of action is often designed to spur a law enforcement response to maximize sympathetic media attention. Monkeywrenching was made popular by Edward Abbey's fictional work The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975). It generally refers to minor acts of vandalism or sabotage that are undertaken to frustrate the perpetrators of a perceived environmental harm (CITE).
Terrorists have different methods to get there point across. One of the potential methods is bioterrorism. Bioterrorism is the act of terrorism involving the release of toxic biological agents, including bacteria, disease and viruses (Riedel, 2004). One recent incident was the “anthrax letters” in 2001 which killed 5 people and infected 17 people. These dangerous biological agents are not very hard to obtain, which is why there is a high risk of bioterrorism at the CDC. With just one terrorist working inside the CDC, can cause tremendous consequences. Many of the harmful agents are colorless, airborne and microscopic, which makes it harder to detect. If these agents were to be exposed to someone, the agents would spread quickly in a population. When you a large population affected with a harmful biological agent, it would be very hard to control the situation and prevent it from
Think of the bioterrorism attack using anthrax in 2001 and how it jeopardized the safety and security of the community. What would protect the community from this disastrous attack in the future?
The concept of homeland security has developed over the last decade. Homeland security as a concept was precipitated by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. However, prior to 9/11 such entities as the Gilmore Commission and the United States Commission on National Security discussed the need to evolve the way national security policy was conceptualized due to the end of the Cold War and the rise of radicalized terrorism. After 9/11, policymakers concluded that a new approach was needed to address the large-scale terrorist attacks. A presidential council and department were established, and a series of presidential directives were issued in the name of “homeland security.” These developments established that homeland security was a distinct, but undefined
In October of 2001, the United States was attacked with a form of biological terrorism in which anthrax was hidden in certain letters sent through the postal services. Anthrax, caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis, is a common disease received by livestock but is usually very rare among humans in the United States. However, anthrax is a very dangerous disease when contracted by a person and can result in severe breathing problems and death. In the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, the population of the U.S. was jolted into mass fear and panic, and the anthrax attacks exacerbated this trepidation. Our response teams, government, and pharmacies collectively struggled to control the situation, which proved that our country was woefully unprepared
For these reasons, increased biosecurity has been instigated in every tier of society (Dance, 2008). Control steps are rigorously implemented, measures like correct disposal of Anthrax carcasses, correct disinfection, decontamination and disposal of contaminated materials and also vaccinating any exposed animals and humans at risk, are all measures strongly practiced.
Biological warfare is defined as, “the utilization of infectious agents and biological toxins including fungi, viruses, and bacteria in killing, incapacitating or causing injuries to plants, animals and humans as acts of war” (HRF). Biological weapons are a technological advancement that can be utilized to win wars, but the unpredictability of controlling the weapon has unforeseen side effects that cause ethical issues to arise. Even though I think having the ability to genetically alter biological organisms is a step towards improving human life, the employment of the same biological organisms in warfare is an unethical and immoral use of scientific advancement. The history behind biological warfare has been around longer than most people
Terrorism will happen again regardless of how prepared the U.S. thinks it may be. This means that it is the country’s job to ensure that there is a continuation of measures that should be taken to fight against terrorism. Others believe that the U.S. is fully prepared for another terrorist attack and that enough has been done. The question at hand is, should the U.S. still be concerned about terrorism. The United States needs to be concerned about terrorism to prevent tragedies like 9/11 from happening again, to address problems with domestic terrorism, and to improve homeland security.
...ll a tough task because there are complex procedures to make the germs work efficient to kill. Still, bioterror events are deadly as finding vaccines and treatment would be difficult. A group called the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have set a future goal of finding a vaccine that can immunize people with multiple diseases and finding a detergents that can kill germs rapidly. Nevertheless, the public should realize the horrific outcome of bioterrorism if it occurs and they should be aware that it can occur anywhere and anytime. United States have created some new inventions of detecting pathogens' presences through use of microchip and battery-operated devices. Bioterrorism can also occur unknowingly so the public should notify the hospital if strange illnesses have come to place. Overall, we as human beings are not safe in this dangerous Earth.
Thesis: Biological Warfare is morally and inhumanely wrong, It is the wrongful killing of men, women, and children. It should be stopped no matter what the circumstances are.
Department of State, the perception of people on biosecurity threat has evolved as they “see the world in terms of a multipolar, multi-threat environment”. It further stated that “biorisk and matrices to measure the weighted value of each risk have become the norm, and biosecurity and biosafety have come to encompass the use of proper safety measures and facility specifications, as well as the proper training of employees to ensure not only their own safety but that of the public at large.”