Biolgical Warfare Essay, Research Paper

Biological warfare is war waged with deadly chemicals, biological agents, or

radioactive materials (CBR). They can be used to kill large amounts of people, destroy

food, or just temporarily stun them for a matter of time so troops can come in and

torture them or do whatever troops led by an manipulative tyrant who destroys

everything. Using CBR, allowed you to kill everything and leave the buildings standing

instead of nuclear weapons which destroy everything, put fallout in the air, and have

radioactive materials wash into the ground and streams.

Using deadly chemicals in war has been going on since the early 1900?s during

World War I (1914-1918). Chemicals such as tear gas, chlorine gas, phosgene, and mustard

gas. The first 3 are things that irritate the lungs, and mustard gas cause burns. After

experimenting with these chemicals, they tried flame throwers but they were ineffective

because of their short range. But that later led to napalm. Napalms kind of like gas only

longer burning, more thick and it?s stickier and this is a deadly combination. All of this

stuff led to the wide use of fire for World War II (1939-1945).

By the end of W.W.I, European powers have integrated gas warfare capabilities

into their armies artillery. During W.W.II, Germany was working on many different things.

Such as nerve gases, the atomic bomb, and Adolf Hitler had scientists work on

something to increase longevity. At the end of W.W.II every country knew about the

advantages of deadly gases than conventional shoot outs and destructive bombs.

Gases such as tear gas have been used in limited wars since W.W.II, such as in the

Vietnam War; tear gas is also employed by civilian police forces to stop riots. The more

deadly gases such as mustard gas and nerve gas has generally been condemned by most

countries. Such weapons do remain in some arsenals, but treaties have gotten rid of

them. There is evidence that Iraq used these weapons in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s

and that allied troops may have been exposed to these gases during the Persian Gulf

War of 1991.

Various chemicals, such as Agent Orange, that alter the metabolism of plant and

cause them to die have been employed in modern jungle warfare to reduce the enemy?s

cover and let troops march in without the fear of being ambushed. Later it was found

that Agent Orange harmed everything that was near it. It killed plants, went into the

human?s lungs, and into streams and killed fish. This was very devastating to the

ecosystem.

The Hague Conference of 1899 made an attempt to outlaw projectiles carrying

poison gases; the agreement to this effect lasted only until W.W.I. In Geneva in 1925 a

League of Nations protocol against chemical and biological war was signed; it was not,

however, ratified by the United States until 1975. The treaty outlaws the first use of

such weapons in warfare, but nations generally reserve the right to use them in

retaliation. Agreements totally banning chemical warfare have proved difficult to

achieve.

A treaty totally banning biological warfare was drawn up by the Geneva Disarmament

Conference in 1971 and approved by the United Nations General Assembly. Some 80

nations signed the Biological Weapons Convention, which the United States ratified in

1974. This treaty is unique because it outlaws a whole class of weapons by most of the

world. Its effectiveness, however, is still questionable; progress in genetic engineering has

also complicated this issue. At the Bush-Gorbachev summit in June 1990, a treaty was

signed providing for both the United States and USSR to reduce stockpiles of chemical

weapons. In May 1991, 19 industrial nations–including the United States-commited to

adopt controls on the export of 50 common chemicals used to manufacture these

weapons.

Anthrax is a contagious disease of warm-blooded animals, including humans,

caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. One of the oldest known diseases, it was

once epidemic and still appears in many world areas, but only rarely in the western and

southern United States. It was the first disease for which the in the wrong organism

was isolated, by 0. J. Davaine in 1863, for which a pure culture was obtained, by Robert

Koch in 1876, and for which an effective vaccine was developed, by Louis Pasteur in 1881.

Animals got the disease from drinking water from contaminated dirt, in which the

organism may live for years; from eating infected carcasses and feedstuffs; and from

the bites of bloodsucking insects. The disease, sometimes manifested by staggering,

bloody discharge, convulsions, and suffocation, may be fatal almost immediately in

particular cases and within three to five days in some cases. Death is caused by

toxemia. Preseasonal inoculations and antibiotics are effective.

In humans, the disease appear’s in both outside and inside forms, with a death

rate of about 20 percent. The external form is contracted through cuts in the skin by

those who handle infected hides and carcasses and may be self-limiting, but often gets

into the bloodstream, with fever and exhaustion. It is characterized by malignant

pustules on exposed skin areas. The inside type is acquired by inhaling anthrax cells, as

from animal hair and wool, which take over the lungs and sometimes the intestinal tract

to cause lose blood. It is speculated that an intestinal variety may be caused by

consuming contaminated meat or milk. Workers exposed to animal products, especially

wool, are protected by vaccination. Penicillin is effective in treatment except in rapidly

progressing cases.

The worst outbreak of anthrax occurred in 1979, when a biological weapons plant in

Sverdlovsk, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (present-day Yekaterinburg) released an

aerosol form of the anthrax pathogen. The source of this exposure, which killed 66

people, was publicly denied until 1994.

In conclusion, biological weaponry are very deadly and can kill 100?s of millions of

people without them knowing what?s going on. At least it doesn?t destroy buildings. So

when we drop the big one, later intelligent species can dig up entire buildings and dead

bodies.