Bacillus anthracis Example of suspect package

The US Centers for Disease Control gives another definition:

“A bioterrorism attack is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs (agents) used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. These agents are typically found in nature, but it is possible that they could be changed 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 be spread through the air, through water, or in food. Terrorists may use biological agents because they can be extremely difficult to detect and do not cause illness for several hours to several days. Some bioterrorism agents, like the smallpox virus, can be spread from person to person and some, like anthrax, can not.”

Case study – anthrax attacks

In September 2001, just a week after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC, an editor of a US tabloid died after inhaling a white powder hidden in an envelope he had opened. This case of inhalational anthrax that occurred in Florida sparked “Amerithrax” – a bioterrorism incident in which a total of five people died and 17 got ill after being exposed to letters containing bacillus anthracis spores. A wave of panic swept the nation. Not only the US was affected – many other countries had to deal with ‘white powder’ letters supposedly containing the deadly spores. For the most part, they turned out to be hoaxes, but the seeds of fear and panic they had sown proved the effectiveness of this method of intimidating civilian populations.

This was the most recent and well-known case of bioterrorism, but statistics show that between 1960 and 1999, more than 200 incidents involving biological agents were reported in different places in the world. For example, even before 2001, the Aum Shinrikyo sect in Japan (the same one responsible for Sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo metro in 1995) experimented with Ebola, Botulinum Toxin and anthrax, which it tried to spread in Tokyo via trucks and sprayer systems.

How long has bioterrorism been a threat?

Bioterrorism has become one of the major challenges of the 21st century, even though biological warfare itself is as old as the human race. Over the centuries,  there have been many attempts to initiate the spread of infectious diseases; micro-organisms or toxins of micro-organisms were used as weapons unleashed on select groups of people such as the military (for instance, in the Middle Ages, the bodies of plague victims would be thrown over city walls to discourage advancing enemy armies). Starting in the 1930s and up through the Cold War, some states developed biological warfare programmes which have been long since dismantled. Only recently has the phenomenon of bioterrorism itself gained momentum and so bioweapons have become a threat to civilian populations.

Who are bioterrorists?

Over the years, it has become clear that many different kinds of people can have an interest in and make use of biological weapons, from groups such as political movements or sects to individuals (so-called lone wolves). Here are some historical examples of bioterrorists who would fall into those categories:

• Independent political organisms: In the 1950s, Mau Mau, an independence movement in Kenya, used plant toxins to kill livestock so as to weaken locals’ faith in the British administration and encourage them to join the movement.
• Sects: The Rajneeshee group, a religious cult, contaminated salad bars in Oregon with Salmonella typhimurium in 1984, causing over 700 people to fall sick, with over 40 hospitalized.
• Individuals (so-called lone wolves): Larry Wayne Harris, a member of a white supremacist organization, attempted to spread the plague bacterium but his attempt was foiled when the biomedical supply company, surprised at his impatience to receive the samples, alerted the police. He was later arrested upon threatening to spread anthrax in Las Vegas.

These examples were based on Dr. Seth Carus’ comprehensive resource. For more information about confirmed cases of bioterrorism, as well as examples of biological crimes please look at: WORKING PAPER Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents Since 1900. By Dr. Seth W. Carus. Available online at: http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/cbw/carus.pdf

What are biological agents?

A biological agent (or pathogen) is a disease-causing organism or toxin produced from a biological source. These can include a bacterium, virus, fungus, or biological toxin. Recent developments in microbiology and genetic engineering have shown that viruses and bacteria can be modified so as to make them resistant to antiviral means and/or antibiotics and thus more lethal.

Some biological agents are easier to manufacture and distribute than others, thus making them the most dangerous and deadly. According to the Centers for Disease Control, these most lethal “Category A Agents” include anthrax, the bubonic plague, smallpox, botulism, viral hemorrhagic fever and tularemia.

Even if this kind of terrorism is not spectacular, it can be devastating and especially threatening precisely due to its clandestine nature. Responsibility for bioterrorism acts is rarely claimed by terrorist groups, as is usually the case with other types of attacks. A covert attack may thus take a long time to be detected, as the first visible indication that a bioweapon had been used would be a great number of patients with similar symptoms and/or presence of an unusual infection.

The effects of the attack will be visible on a number of levels:

• Physical  - actual diseases;
• Psychological  - fear, mass panic;
• Economic  - travel restrictions, business shut-down;
• Environmental – visible on humans, animals, plants.