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Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology
by Scott D. McCulloch
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Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology
It seems every decade has its share of buzzwords, and the 90's is no
different. Not to be outdone, the buzzword for Science is
BIOTECHNOLOGY. Biotechnology is defined by one book as "The
study of the industrial production of goods and services by using
biological organisms, systems, and processes." This is really too
narrow a definition to be useful, however. Biotechnology can be
viewed as the intermingling of three major disciplines:
Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology.
Like any new technology, Biotechnology is a two sided coin. The
"good side" allows for the alleviation of human suffering. Two
examples of this are Genentech's recombinant Insulin and Amgen's
recombinant Erythrogen. Both products have helped countless
people who otherwise would have suffered or even died. But there is
also a "bad side" that involves biotechnology being used to actually
cause human suffering. Eugenics, or the science of "improving" a
race through genetics, could be greatly enhanced through unethical
use of biotechnological practices. Another possibility is the
production and development of Biological Weapons through
biotechnology. Our discussion of this topic will be divided into
three parts:
1.History of Biological Warfare
2.Advantages and Disadvantages of Biological Warfare and Classification of Biological Weapons
3.Current Status of Biological Weapons Worldwide and the Possibilities Biotechnology gives to Biological Warfare
The history of Biological Warfare(BW), like most topics, can be
divided into 3 parts: Early History, Modern History, and what we
call "The Now." The early history starts as far back as you can think
and continues up to the start of the 20th century. The first recorded
use of biological agents is the Romans using dead animals to foul
the enemies water supply. This had the dual effects of decreasing
enemy numbers and lowering morale. The idea behind this kind of
attack is that a weakened enemy is an easily defeated enemy. The
Tartars had the idea of infecting the enemy by catapulting bodies
infected with bubonic plague over the walls of the city of Kaffa.
Some historians believe that this event was the cause of the epidemic
of plague that swept across medieval Europe killing 25 million. A
more 'recent' use of BW involves the British during the French-
Indian War. The Native Americans greatly outnumbered the British
and were suspected of being on the side of the French. As an "act of
good will" the British give blankets to the Indians, but the blankets
came from a hospital that was treating smallpox victims and
consequently smallpox raged through the Native American
community and devastated their numbers. There are no doubt
numerous other anecdotes of historical use of biological weapons
not covered here.
The modern history of BW starts in 1918 with the Japanese
formation of a special section of the Army(Unit 731) dedicated to
BW. The thought at the time was "Science and Technology are the
Key's to Winning War and BW is the most cost effective." In 1931,
Japan expanded its territory by taking over part of Manchuria and
Unit 731 moved in to secure "an endless supply of human
experiment materials." Essentially all prisoners of war were available
for BW experiments. Then, in 1941, Japanese planes sprayed
bubonic plague over parts of China. At least 5 separate instances of
this occurring have been documented. In 1942 "bacterial bombs"
were deployed on mainland China but these attacks were determined
to be ineffective. At this point, the United States(US) becomes aware
of the Japanese efforts and decided to start its own program. These
acts were not the only atrocities committed, however. The Japanese
released thousands of plague infested rats prior to their surrender,
with unknown consequences. They also tested on American POW's
during the war and the U.S. Government apparently knew about it,
but did nothing(perhaps a worse atrocity). What they did instead was
to offer immunity to would-be war criminals in exchange for the
information the Japanese learned from these experiments!!! So in
effect, the U.S. BW program grew in part because of U.S. lives. The
end of W.W.II brought on a new era in the area of world politics and
BW was intimately linked to this, known as "The Cold War."
At this time Great Britain was also developing a program in BW. It
was started with the fear that Germany and Japan would have an
advantage in this area. The program focused on anthrax spores and
their viability and "range of spread" when delivered with a
conventional bomb. The fateful Gruinard Island off the coast of
Scotland was chosen as the site for this testing. It was thought that it
was far enough off the coast as too prevent any contamination of the
mainland, which later turned out to be false. The data gathered from
these experiments was used by both Great Britain and the U.S. to
develop bombs that were better able to effectively disperse spores.
After an outbreak of anthrax in sheep and cattle in 1943 on the coast
of Scotland that directly faced Gruinard, the British decided to stop
testing. A tragic consequence of this testing is that even today
Gruinard Island is contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores. The
original idea for decontamination was to start a brushfire that burned
off the top of the soil and killed all traces of the organisms.
Unfortunately, the spores unexpectedly embedded themselves in the
soil so total decontamination of the island was/is impossible. As
long as no ground is disturbed, we are supposedly safe, but birds
that travel back and forth from mainland to island probably don't
know this!!!
The U.S. program of BW started in 1942. With the acquisition of the
Japanese data and the increased tensions of the cold war, the U.S.
program accelerated in activity and grew in size. In 1956 the former
Soviet Union accused the U.S. of using biological weapons in
Korea, which lead them to threaten future use of Chemical and
Biological weapons. This changed the focus of the U.S. program to a
more defensive one. Before this, the bulk of the research was based
at Ft. Detrick and used "surrogate biological agents" to model more
deadly organisms. Most of the offensive tests were based on "secret
spraying" of organisms over populated areas. This program was shut
down in 1969. One of the biggest experiments involved the use of
Serratia marcescens being sprayed over San Francisco. This
organism is especially nice because it produces a red/pink pigment
when grown on certain media, which makes identification very easy.
At one point, 5000 particles/minute were sprayed from the coastal
areas inward. During this time, 1 man died(in the hospital) and 10
others became infected in what was described as "a mystery to
doctors." Although the military never did many follow up studies on
these tests, one results was that it showed nearly every single person
became infected with the test organism. In hindsight, now that some
of this information has become declassified, it's been shown that
during periods following spraying tests, there were 5-10 times the
normal infections reported. Other experiments included tests on
Minneapolis that were disguised as "smoke screen tests" because
residents were told a harmless smoke was being tested so that cities
might be 'hidden' from radar guided missiles. In 1966 Bacillus
subtilis was released into the subway system of New York City to
determine how vulnerable it was to attack. Results showed that the
entire underground tunnel system could be infected by release in
only one station due to the winds created by the trains!!! The bulk of
the BW experiments conducted by the U.S. during this time all
pointed to two things: the U.S. was highly susceptible to a
biological weapon attack and that there was really nothing we could
do about it.
On the Soviet side of things, aside from a few allegations of use, the
BW program of the U.S.S.R. was kept relatively quiet. In 1979,
however, there was an explosion at a plant in Sverdlosk and an
outbreak of anthrax followed. At the time, all accusations of BW
research were vigorously denied by Soviet officials, with the
explanation that anthrax outbreaks can occur naturally and that the
explosion was merely a coincidence. In 1992, Boris Yeltsin
confirmed that anthrax was being researched at Sverdlosk and vowed
to stop all "Soviet" BW research. Unfortunately, defectors have
contradicted Yeltsin and there are rumors that although the 'official
government' statement and ideal may be an elimination of biological
weapons, the military is still actively pursuing a BW program on its
own. Supposedly they are working independently of any
governmental control and are seeking to development a "super virus"
of unknown capabilities(this thing won't crash computers, that's for
sure)!!!
The most recent concern of BW has come from developing
countries. During the Persian Gulf War to liberate Kuwait, U.S.
troops were immunized against anthrax(contrary to official
statements). Saddam Hussein was known to have a BW program but
its scope and size was miscalculated, as you'll see later.
Before getting into the advantages and disadvantages of BW and the
classification of biological organisms, it is useful to define what
exactly Biological Warfare is. "Biological Warfare" is the use of
disease to harm or kill an adversary's military forces, population,
food, and livestock. This includes any living(or non-living virus)
microorganism or bioactive substance that is produced by a
microorganism that can be delivered by conventional warhead or
even civilian means.
There are four main advantages and three big disadvantages to BW.
Probably the biggest advantage is the killing efficiency of most
biological weapons. It is estimated that 1 gram of toxin could kill 10
million people. A purified form of botulinum toxin is approximately
3 million times more potent than Sarin, a chemical nerve agent. As a
comparison, a SCUD missile filled with botulinum toxin could
affect an area of 3700 sq. km, an area 16X greater than could be
affected with Sarin. Another advantage is the cost effectiveness of
biological weapons. To "affect" 1 sq. km it would cost
approximately $2000 using conventional weapons, $800 using
nuclear weapons, $600 using chemical weapons, and $1.00 using
biologics. This fact has caused biological agents to be called a "Poor
Man's Atomic Bomb." Perhaps a more accurate term is "Lazy Man's
Atomic Bomb" because of the ease of production of most Biological
weapons. Any nation with a reasonably advanced pharmaceutical
and medical industry has the capability of mass producing biological
weapons. This fact also leads to problems with determining what
countries have programs, as we'll see later. The last advantage of BW
takes advantage of the live nature of these bugs. Anything from a
piece of fruit to a ballistic missile could be used to deliver a
biological weapons to a target. Along with this is the fact that with
certain organisms, only a few particles would be needed to start an
infection that could potentially cause an epidemic. Conventional
weapons explode once and are finished. With a few particles of
Hanta virus many thousands of people could become carriers that
infect thousands more people!!!
The disadvantages of BW are many, but a major consideration is the
unpredictability of its use. The weather is an important
consideration, if one is worried about their own troops. Gruinard
Island is a prime example of how uncontrolled spread can take place
and we measly little humans are helpless. Imagine what could
happen on an battlefield without borders of water? The lifespan is
another major concern. These agents are living creatures that have a
chance of becoming a part of the local microflora. The strategic
futility this creates makes offensive use of BW impractical. If you
spray an area and kill enemy troops, how long is safe before your
troops can follow up? There's really no 100% way to be sure. The
last major disadvantage BW has is the stigma associated with its use.
Imagine if you will a child, a child bleeding out of every orifice of
their body, bleeding not only blood, but their liquefied internal
organs saturated with small black particles of infectious Ebola virus.
Now imagine a ruler of a country being accused on international
television of purposely causing this to happen for military gain. Do
you think they'll be popular for very long? We don't.
Biological weapons can be classified into Viruses, Bacteria,
Rickettsia, biological toxins, and then genetically altered organisms.
The viruses typically investigated include Ebola, Hanta Virus, and
Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis(VEE). We've already heard how
Ebola causes a hemmorrhagic fever. Hanta causes a fever with
accompanying renal complications and often respiratory distress.
VEE is one of a class of viruses that infects the central nervous
system and often causes swelling of the brain. All three of these
viruses can be fatal.
Bacterial weapons can include Vibrio cholera(which can cause
gastroenteritis forcing fluid loss of up to 1 liter per hour), Yersinia
pestis(causative agent of plague; also causes a lung fever and
swelling of the lymph nodes), Bacillus anthracis(causative agent of
anthrax), and many other less dramatic but still pathogenic species
like Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus.
Rickettsial organisms are obligate intracellular parasites of humans.
Some that could be used in BW are Coxiella burnetti which causes
Q fever and a chronic endocarditis, and Rickettsia prowasecki, the
causative agent of epidemic typhus. Symptoms include fever and
disruption of the central nervous system. The two major toxins
commonly associated with BW are botulinum and Clostridium
perfringens toxins. The botulinum toxin, as previously mentioned is
extremely potent. It causes a respiratory paralysis and the victim
suffers from asphyxia. Gas gangrene is the disease most commonly
associated with Clostridium perfringens. It causes extremities to 'go
necrotic' by slowly suffocating them. The organism itself can also
cause a necrotism of flesh.
The last group of organisms that are, or could be, used for BW
purposes are genetically altered(created?) organisms. Usually, it
would be some kind of mutant of the above organisms that is more
virulent or less susceptible to current treatments. Any toxin or
substance created or acquired through recombinant technology fall
into this class as well. But before we learn about what possibilities
biotechnology brings to the arena of BW, let's see where the world
stands as of the mid 1990's.
The current status of Biological Weapons and Warfare is tenuous.
There is general agreement among many countries that BW is
inhumane and that it should not be used for first strike, retaliation in
kind, or defensive purposes. This thought is not universally shared,
however. Many less developed countries see Biologics as an easy
and less expensive way to possess mass destruction weapons.
Determining which countries have BW Programs is not an easy task.
The word "program" implies a dedicated research and development
program funded and supported by the presiding Government. The
data on this subject is very vague due to its very nature. No
government is going to outright say "We have a BW Program" and so
many acceptable research programs use similar, if not identical
equipment, that the information just isn't there. Despite these
problems, there is some data available. Countries suspected of
having programs include(but is not limited to):
China Taiwan North Korea Iraq Syria Egypt Iran Cuba Israel<br>
former Soviet States USA Japan
The largest stockpiles are believed to held by Iran, the U.S., and the
former Soviet States. Once again, the data on this is very sketchy
because of most governments unwillingness to supply this kind if
information and also because these stockpiles are much easier to
hide than conventional weapons or even chemical weapons. An
excellent example of this is the situation of Iraq before and during
the Gulf War. She was suspected of having at the very least a
rudimentary BW program. It was thought that botulinum toxin and
anthrax bacteria were being studied on a small scale, with the main
focus of Mr. Hussein's energy being piped into chemical research.
What was actually by United Nations observers was astonishing, to
say the least. Advanced facilities studying anthrax, botulism,
brucellosis, tularemia, and gas gangrene organisms were found
alongside a wide array of potential delivery systems from aerial
bombs to surface-to-air-missiles(SAM's). And this is in a country
where supposedly not much was happening.
Becoming a biological terrorist might not be as hard as you think.
One thing about it is that it is incredibly easy to hide. Hiding a
nuclear weapons program is rather complicated(how many uses of
Uranium-235 are there?) but hiding a molecular biology research lab
is easy. In just 30-60 minutes a lab could be cleared of all suspicious
material and look like any medical or pharmaceutical research lab.
Along these same lines, the equipment needed in legitimate and
illegitimate labs is identical. No special supplies need to be taken,
with the exception of ultra safe working conditions. Another reason
it's so easy to hide is that it doesn't require much space. Here at Cal
Poly ultra sterile work is done on Ancient microorganisms and food
pathogens and that only takes up 3 rooms!!! Even mass production
of organisms can be done on a relatively small scale. A seed culture
of anthrax bacteria could be grown to mass quantities in around 96
hours. The level of technology needed to do this kind of work is also
much lower when compared to Nuclear weapons. Most of the
techniques used can be found in textbooks and journals available
worldwide. The information is not considered "hot" like certain
kinds of nuclear information. The techniques are taught in
undergraduate courses in Colleges and Universities worldwide.
These factors came to light when the French Police raided a
suspected "safe house" for German Red Army fugitives and found in
the bathroom cultures of Bacillus anthracis growing in huge jugs.
Only with BW do we need to consider how easy it is to possess, but
how hard it is to control.
Now let's go through a very rough version of what a biological
terrorist might do(see table). It will also demonstrate how easy the
process is. As you can see, the process is not all that
complicated.
1.Select a source of protein you want a mass quantity of
2.Isolate and purify total RNA
3.Make a cDNA copy using Reverse Transcriptase
4.Amplify the cDNA using PCR
5.Clone the fragment by inserting into a plasmid and transforming an E. coli
6.Express protein and purify protein!!!
The left side is a schematic as Dr. Rigler's Senior Project group here
at Cal Poly, and the right is a hypothetical "Senior Project" of
Saddam Hussein. Kind of scary, isn't it? Granted, the purification of
Ab's is much easier, safer, and more well documented than the
purification of botulinum toxin, but it's not impossible(a 'friend of a
friend' was able to download from a military website a protocol for
the purification of botulinum toxin, to 94% purity with only one
run).
So now we've seen how easy it is to make and produce these things,
so now we need to address how easy they are to mask. As we've
stated, it would be very easy to hide all suspicious substances in 30-
60 minutes, but what about all the equipment? Well, the problem is
that most, if not all of the equipment is considered 'dual-use.' That
means it can be used for both legitimate and illegitimate purposes. A
centrifuge, pipettes, culture flasks, petri dishes: are you using these
things to create a weapon or a vaccine for your people? There's really
no way to tell. The masking of Biological weapons is even easier
than that of Chemical weapons. Reagents(and equipment) and
precursors cannot just be placed on "hot lists." Clostridium
botulinum can be isolated from the soil, or ordered directly from a
Biotech company, like Saddam Hussein did!!! The availability of
organisms is of major concern. Unlike chemicals, you don't need
large amounts of precursors. One live cell is all you need to start
your own precursor batch!!!
The advent of recombinant DNA and the advances being made in
biotechnology open up a wide range of problems, questions, and
avenues for BW. The following is what three undergraduates of
Microbiology and Biochemistry could think up over beer(Newcastle)
and pizza!
Some kind of fused protein. We had in mind a fused Antibody and
toxin. That way you could have a "person specific" or "group
specific" weapon. This might sound weird and possibly futuristic,
but it already happens. Researchers have fused plant proteins with
parts of various toxins so that by eating the food, we get immunized.
Why couldn't somebody fuse a whole to a food source and then
"generously" give a donation of food? That way it could conceivably
be masked as food poisoning! Teaching old dogs new tricks -
engineering an old virus into one that is deadly or extremely virulent.
Or, just make an entirely new virus so that no one can have any idea
how to combat it or treat it. There was once rumors that HIV was
created by the U.S. government. While this is not true, the fact that a
virus previously unknown became so prevalent just shows that we
don't know as much about the world or viruses as we like to think. If
someone were to engineer a new virus, they could claim it was
natural and we'd have little way to refute their claims. With the
destruction of the rainforests all over the world, it is very
conceivable that some new plant or insect toxin could be found and
used. Again, whoever has control of it would have control of
distribution and vaccine production.
The use of biological weapons has a long and varied history.
Interestingly enough, its use has decreased as history has progressed,
instead of proliferating, like most kinds of warfare. The development
of biotechnology has opened new doors for the use of biological
weapons and it remains to be seen where we will go with it. There
are efforts to have a global ban on all kinds of biological and
chemical warfare, but no one can predict how these will turn out or
how well they will work. Indeed, the U.S. military has just created a
specially trained unit of 350 Marines and Sailors that will be used in
case of biological and chemical attack, acknowledging the U.S.'s
lack of defensive capability in this area(Newsweek, June 10, 1996;
page 4). Biological warfare can come in many forms and it is nearly
impossible to detect and control. Only time will tell if our elected
leaders have evolved far to realize the futility of BW and if they are
smart enough not to use it. Thank You for reading.
References
Cole, Leonard A. Clouds of secrecy: the army's germ warfare tests
over populated areas, Rowman & Littlefield, Totowa, N.J. , 1988
Hersh, Seymour M. Chemical and biological warfare: America's
hidden arsenal, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1968
Murphy, Sean. No fire, no thunder: the threat of chemical and
biological weapons, Monthly Review Press, New York , 1984
Piller, Charles. Gene wars: military control over the new genetic
technologies, Beech Tree Books, New York , 1988
Spiers, Edward M. Chemical and Biological Weapons: A Study in
Proliferation, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994
Authored by Scott D. McCulloch
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