Everything to Know about the Terror of Biological Weapons
Biological weapons are a form of weaponry in which pathogens like viruses or bacteria are released to infect an enemy with a fatal pathogen. The disease would kill the enemy's foe for them and there is almost be no way to sense it or fight it.(Linda D. Kozaryn March 20, 2011
[1]). There are many types of biological modern bio weapons such as anthrax or small pox that are produced and deployed through many different methods such as air food or water supply along with older weapons such as sulfur mustard which has been around for about 100 years (Ghabili K, Agutter PS, Ghanei M, Ansarin K, Panahi Y, Shoja MM. 2011
[1]). But research has also gone into defending against these threats such as vaccination, quarantine, and barriers like masks. Plus a different type of barrier is in place by the Geneva convention's ban on Biological weapons. And also research many ways to help prevent and fight the outbreaks.
The production of biological weapons is divided into a number of complicated steps. And there is more than one way to produce a biological weapon The basic steps is to choose the organism to produce at an immense scale from small cultures then stabilize them. (Anonymous
[1]). Due to the advances and research over the past 25 years the produced biological weapons are more deadly and can survive longer after deployment and be resistant to most drugs. Also through genetic modification the pathogens can be modified to not have pathogen like characteristics so they're harder to detect and also how they make the immune system respond to trick the population into believing its another pathogen. (Anonymous
[2]). But the basic production of large scale organisms was discovered in the 1970's by scientists who go by Kholer and Milstien who developed a procedure to produce antibodies for a single antigenic epitope. Epitope is the part of the molecule that initiates the production of a single antibody species. It is measured at a surface area 50 ´ 50 Angstroms. The produced antibodies are called monoclonal antibodies. And in a controlled manner these can be produced at a large scale ideal for industries such as food cosmetics and biological weapons. (Anonymous
[3]) And due to the fact that biological weapons are single celled pathogens the can be produced for a very low price due to the simplicity of producing them. (Anonymous
[4])
There are many types of biological agents such as anthrax or small pox and many others that can be classified based on their intended uses and the level of containment required. These Biosafty levels determine the safety of the agent and its uses. (Anonymous
[5]) Biosafety level 1 is the lowest level agents of no or minimal hazard to the environment or people are contained and usually include water testing plants and some highschool laboratory, (Anonymous
[6]) Biosafety level 2 agenst can cause disease based on level of exposure and require adequate containment equipment and include clinical test sites and biological weapon production. (Anonymous
[7]) Biosafety level 3 is the study, containment or production of exotic strains or pathogens that can cause severe infection through inhaling. Production areas must conduct work in Bio level 2 or 3 cabinets with a HEPA air filter in place to clean the air in the building. Personal must wear proper safety attire to keep pathogens out. Bio level 3 production includes vaccines for exotic disease and bio weapon production. (Anonymous
[8]) Bio safety level 4 is the highest level the US has 2 level 4 laboratory one is the CDC Prevention Lab in Atlanta and the other is at Fort Detrik used by the army. These labs are constructed to keep agents in and out of the environment personel have a change of cloths and showers while in the plant. Their are 2 HEPA air filters in the plant. These are used to study very infectious diseases such as Congo-Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola, Junin, Kumlinge, Kyasanur Forest Disease, Lassa, Machupo, Marburg, Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever, Russian Spring-Summer encephalitis, and Tick-borne encephalitis virus complex (Absettarov, Hanzalova, Hypr). (Anonymous
[9])
Based on the bio safety level wee can determine the nature of the labs production for example if it is a biological weapon the plant will be made so the agent doesn't get out into the environment as opposed to a vaccine or medicine where the plant is designed to keep environmental contaminations out. (Anonymous
[10]) The production of biological weapons and vaccines also differs in the purity of the product. A pre and refined vaccine is needed to help prevent against disease however a crude biological weapon infects a population either way. (Anonymous
[11]) In the production of biological weapons while the agent is under production many steps are take to ensure containment of the biological agent. Steam cleaning of all the equipment helps keep the pathogen in the containment vats and clean air is filtered through at all times. Also the removal of collapsed steam is important to prevent standing water the helps bacteria grow. (Anonymous
[12]) Also supply sterile inert gas to the equipment helps by protecting oxygen sensitive biomaterial and stopping aerosol toxins from forming. Nitrogen,oxygen and argon are some of the gases that are continuously filtered throughout the plant providing a veil of protective inert gas. (Anonymous
[13]) Ventilation is also a great prevention against containment by acting as a barrier between workers and the processing area by HEPA air filters keeps the air clean. (Anonymous
[14]) To actually replicate a bioogical agent you can use a number of many methods such as cell culture, viral replication, recombinant DNA, and powdering and milling. (Anonymous
[15]) Cell culture is used to replicate viruses since the cannot replicate outside of living cells so they are grown in chicken embryos and tissue cultures. (Anonymous
[16]) Fermentation in single cell growth chambers are used for bacteria and bacterial toxins and some can be grown in animals such as the plague. (Anonymous
[17]) Recombinant DNA is used to produce animal toxins and is extremely complex and not as widespread s other methods. (Anonymous
[18]) Powdering and milling is used for biological weapons and toxic weapons. (Anonymous
[19])
The deployment of biological weapons can be done in many ways. Whether its airborn or in the food supply there are ways to get them out. And there doesnt have to be alot of the pathogen to deploy getting it into the population at all will start an infection if the pathogen is resiliant enough. The 2 main ways of deployment are line source and point source. (Linda Kozyran 2011
[4]) Line source is deployment of an agent and have the wind carry it off to cover a wide area. (Linda Kozyran 2011
[5]) A more direct deployment is point source where it is sprayed directly on the desired targets. (Linda Kozyran 2011
[6]) The hardest part of deploying a biological weapon is the pathogens resistance to the enviorment if it dries ot or dies from UV rays then it wont work. The deadliest part of the deployment is the fact that these pathogens can be inhaled. (Linda Kozyran 2011
[7]) Inhaliants such as anthrax and small pox have the leading causes in U.S deaths from a bio weapon attack. (Sherwood Ross 2010
[1]) With these immediate dangers there are ways of defense against this threat. With conventions such as the BWC and the Geneva convention ways of keeping weapons from being used and how to stay prepered for them are discussed regularly.(Enemark C. 2010
[1]) Plus the U.S. has laws stating that housing biological weapons in mass is illegal. (Malcolm Dando 2011
[1]) And at the BWC they focus on making outbreaks less deadly by being more prepared. (Martin Matishak Friday, Aug. 20
[4]) Also on the more applicable side of things vaccinations for known weapons are used and quick detection of pathogens and masks to help block it work as well. (Linda Kozaryn 2011
[11]) Also quarantine and evacuation is a major option. And even after an attack when rebuilding is in order they study how bacteria can recirculate and respond accordingly. (Saikaly PE, Hicks K, Barlaz MA, de Los Reyes FL 3rd. 2010
[1])
So in conclusion biological weapons are a very dangerous weapons that are produced in very high rate labs through a number of ways. Some examples are cell culture, viral replication, recombinant DNA, and powdering and milling. There are very strict safety rules at the labs depending on the biolevel. The level bases labs from highschool class rooms to the CDC's high tech facilaties. The safety procautions include multiple cleaning of workers, steam cleaning of the equipment, inert gas to act as a barrier around the biological product in question and HEPA air filters to clean the air. Biological weapons can be deployed in 1 of 2 ways point or line source. And in defense against such a terrible type of weapon the BWC and Geneva convention have discussed preventions such as vaccinations, bans, and research into stopping outbreaks. The bans prevent improbable storage of such weapons in the U.S. is illegal and it is forbidden by the Geneva convention. All in all biological weapons are a very dangerous tool of destruction and this is the reasearch on them.