Bioterrorism

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Bioterrorism

Mycotoxins can be used as chemical warfare agents.

There is considerable evidence that Iraqi scientists developed aflatoxins as part of their bioweapons program during the 1980s. Toxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus were cultured, and aflatoxins were extracted to produce over 2,300 liters of concentrated toxin.

The majority of this aflatoxin was used to fill warheads; the remainder was stockpiled. Aflatoxins seem a curious choice for chemical warfare because the induction of liver cancer is “hardly a knockout punch on the battlefield”.

Even so, the repugnance caused by the use of chemical and biological weapons is the kind of emotional response that terrorists seek to elicit. Furthermore, if used against ethnic groups such as the Kurds, the long-term physical and psychological results could be devastating. Finally, some experts think aflatoxin might have been selected simply because it was the “pet” toxin of an influential Iraqi scientist

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Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by microfungi that are capable of causing disease and death in humans and other animals. Because of their pharmacological activity, some mycotoxins or mycotoxin derivatives have found use as antibiotics, growth promotants, and other kinds of drugs; still others have been implicated as chemical warfare agents. This review focuses on the most important ones associated with human and veterinary diseases, including aflatoxin, citrinin, ergot akaloids, fumonisins, ochratoxin A, patulin, trichothecenes, and zearalenone.

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Today, a terrorist's offensive strategy has a clear comparative advantage over a highly organized society. Most of our countermeasures are reactionary, such as heightening security to lower the probability of an incident.

Stabilization will occur only when defense is on par with (or stronger than) offense. This is the equilibrium we seek. The key to reversing the current imbalance -- especially on the biological weapons front -- can be achieved through science.

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The ultimate goal is to design "smart" vaccines that will destroy viruses that have been engineered to evade the regular vaccines. Regular vaccines target a specific form of a given virus. If the virus mutates or is genetically altered, the vaccine becomes ineffective. "Smart" vaccines would target a more fundamental aspect of the virus that remained unchanged by the mutation or alteration.

Researchers at Saint Louis University have genetically designed a more virulent form of mousepox in an effort to develop vaccines that would be capable of dealing with similar manipulations of smallpox. The research is quite controversial: the fear is that terrorists will learn about innovative, lethal forms of viruses before we develop the vaccines.

» Journalist Files Charges against WHO and UN for Bioterrorism and Intent to Commit Mass Murder