BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE

BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE
who desire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) can use
biotechnology to achieve this goal . Skeptics mistakenly
dismiss the military or strategic value of biological weapons.
These weapons represent a credible threat to United States
security and future economic prosperity .
Biological warfare offers an adversary unique and significant
advantages because of its ease of production, potential impact
of use, and the ability to exploit US vulnerabilities . It is the
only weapon of mass destruction which has utility across the
spectrum of conflict . Using biological weapons under the cover
of an endemic or natural disease occurrence provides an
attacker the potential for plausible denial . In this context,
biological weapons offers greater possibilities for use than do
nuclear weapons .
Biological warfare can include the use of bacteria, rickettsia,
viruses, and toxins to induce illness or death in humans,
animals, and plants . In the current public opinion, there is a
significant misperception that clouds BW discussions .
Biological warfare is often lumped together with chemical
weapons . In BW, the types of agents, physiologic effects,
methods of protection and detection, and methods of
application are distinctly different from those of chemical
warfare (CW) .
Chemical Warfare Versus Biological Warfare
Biological agents are many times deadlier, pound-for pound,
than chemical agents . Ten grams of anthrax spores could kill
as many people as a ton of the nerve agent Sarin.s There are
four distinct types of chemical weapons : nerve, blister, blood,
and incapacitating agents . The effects from these chemical
agents can occur within seconds of exposure as in the case of
nerve and blood agents or as long several hours in the
circumstance of low-dose blister agent exposure such as
mustard gas . The physiological and medical effects of CW are
limited to well-defined symptom complexes . The outcome of
each exposure is dose-dependent death or incapacitation .
Of the four general types of biological warfare agents
mentioned, 60 have been identified with potential weapon
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