Biological weapons and biotechnology
21.11. 2018
JAKUB DRMOLA

Types
-bacteria
-anthrax, cholera, salmonela, tetanus, tularemia, yersinia pestis, ricketsia, typhus, Q fever,
glanders
-viruses
-encephalitis, smallpox, marburg virus, ebola
-fungis
-toxins
-botulotoxin, ricin, enterotoxin
-
-in some cases, animals can also be considered as biological weapons (dogs, dolphins, snakes, bees,
…)

Vectors of infection
-
-inhalation or consumption
-through blood or skin

-aerosol dispersal (trucks, planes, drones, missiles)
-detonation (problematic)
-infiltration (water, food, ventilation)
-other organisms (humans, rats, flees, mosquitos, ...)

Targets
-
-people
-to kill
-to incapacitate
-animals
-as food
-as transport
-plants
-as food
-against drugs

Strategic and tactical aspects
-operational support
-demoralize enemy
-attack population
-annihilation

-highly dependent on weather and environmental conditions
-quite unpredictable
-friendly fire
-latent and hard to detect

History
-
-ancient history (poisoned arrows, wells, during sieges, use of snakes and wasps, and even plague?)
-native americans decimated by smallpox
-vaccination discovered 1796
-deployed during WW1
-mostly against animals
-deployed during WW2
-esp. by Japan in China (2-500 000 dead)
-plans to attack USA: “Cherry Blossoms at Night”
-other powers quite behind, eager to “learn”
-very active development during Cold War on both sides





Spanish Flu
-1918-1920
-global population around 1,75 bil.
-WW1 casualties:
-15-20 mil.
-WW2 casualties:
-40-100 mil.
-Spanish Flu:
-50-100 mil.
-
-
-Black Death:
-75-200 mil.

Terrorism and assassinations and others
-
-1978, Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov killed by ricin pellet
-1984, Dalles, Rajneesh and salmonella
-751 infected, 45 hospitalized
-today known as Osho, still popular
-1990-5, Aum Shinrikyo
-unsuccessful attempts to deploy anthrax, botulin and ebola
-2001, Bruce Ivins, anthrax letters
-22 infected, 5 dead
-ended with suicide, still unclear motivation
-
-many unfuliflled threats and plans from a number of organizations














Image result for iraq bio weapon



Current situation
-development relatively cheap, but difficult
-deployment very difficult

-growing bacterial resistance
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plVk4NVIUh8
-can be directly gentically modified now
-chimeras, deimunization, genetic targeting
-can accidentally leak or be acquired by terrorists
-engineered anti-material bioweapons possible

Other controversies
•designer babies
•artificial organs
•synthetic organisms
•GMO food
•gene editing
•
http://i.imgur.com/cm7iprw.gif