NCJ Number
191228
Journal
Journal of the American Medical Association Volume: 278 Issue: 5 Dated: August 6, 1997 Pages: 412-417
Date Published
1997
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper looks at the history of the development and use of biological weapons and the effectiveness of a treaty to prevent the offensive use of biological weapons.
Abstract
The deliberate use of microorganisms and toxins as weapons has been attempted throughout history. Biological warfare has evolved from the crude use of cadavers to contaminate water supplies to the development of specialized munitions for battlefield and covert use. The modern development of biological agents as weapons has paralleled advances in basic and applied microbiology. The first diplomatic attempt at limiting biological warfare was the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological methods of Warfare. The Japanese developed biological weapons from 1932 until the end of World War II and tried to release 15 million fleas with plague, but the effort backfired and led to 10,000 biological casualties and 1,700 deaths among Japanese troops. Hitler reportedly issued orders prohibiting biological weapons, but research was conducted anyway. An offensive threat never materialized. The Unites States began its biological program in 1942, and experiments were conducted using pathogens, but the facility at Camp Detrick in Maryland lacked adequate engineering safety measures. The program was expanded during the Korean War with animal tests. Concerns were raised after an outbreak of urinary tract infections occurred at Stanford University Hospital in 1950. There were 456 cases of occupational infections acquired at the Maryland facility from 1943 to 1969, a rate of fewer than 10 infections per 1 million hours worked. The Soviet Union, China and North Korea accused the United States of using biological warfare against North Korea and China during the Korean War. Although unsubstantiated, the accusations resulted in a loss of international goodwill toward the United States. Other unsubstantiated allegations were made during the cold war era. The 1972 Convention on The Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction was developed. President Nixon terminated the U.S. offensive biological weapons program in 1969 and 1970. Research efforts were directed exclusively to the development of defensive measures, such as diagnostic tests. Despite the convention, biological weapons have been used for covert assassinations. An anthrax epidemic, attributed to the accidental release of anthrax spores from a factory, killed at least 66 people in Russia in 1979. The convention has not been entirely effective in preventing the enhancement and proliferation of offensive biological warfare programs. The threats of biological weapons are likely to continue in the future.