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Biological and Chemical WarfareYour NameYour School or course INTRODUCTIONBiological and chemical warfare has been the subject of recent debate in the last few decades, but actually has a history of thousands of years. As early as the sixth century B.C.E. warriors using such weaponry has been used against enemies. The two things are actually different, but are often spoken of interchangeably. Biological warfare, sometimes called bio-warfare is the use of biological pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and toxins obtained from living organisms to harm or kill. It has indeed a long history from poisoned arrows of ancient times down to the bio-weapons of recent decades. The ancient playwright Sophocles wrote about the character Philoctetes being shot by a poisoned arrow while he was traveling to the Trojan War. Maybe this was just a myth, or a frequently told legend passed down through the years, but like many legends, it very likely had some truth to it in history. The words “toxin” and “toxic” are derived from Greek word toxikon or arrow. Herodotus, the Greek historian in the fifth century B.C.E. described archers that used a mixure of decomposed snake venom and other ingredients to make poison for their arrows. Chemical warfare is the use of chemical substances with toxic effects to incapacitate, injure or kill. During the 20th century alone, over 70 chemicals have either been utilized or stored as some chemical weapons agent. These weapons differ greatly from conventional weapons because they do not depend on an explosive force or mechanical damage to the body. The United Nations considers all chemical weapons as weapons of mass destruction and the Chemical Weapons convention of 1993 forbids producing or stockpiling any toxic chemical unless used for non-prohibited purposes. Non-living toxins which were produced by a living organism is also considered a chemical weapon. Examples of these are ricin and botulinum toxin. Even though the history of biological and chemical warfare is centuries old it is recently become a subject of great debate and extreme concern in any combat situation. Biological WarfareDuring the Peloponnesian War against Athens, the Spartan soldiers poisoned the city’s wells creating an epidemic killing thousands. Eventually, Sparta was the victor in the war but history took a dim view of their tactics. Since that time, biological warfare agents have been used only in isolated incidents, and usually by countries who have been known to employ underhanded tactics in combat. Propaganda against such bio-tactics have cast aspersions that possibly obscures the actual science or the root cause of the weapons.For instance, no one can know for sure, but recent reports have suggested that the disease spread from the tainted wells in Athens was caused by the ebola virus. Possibly, the African soldiers brought in to assist in the war, brought the virus with them, and it had nothing to do with Spartan warfare at all. History may never really know what the actual organism was that decimated Athens. In the 1346, in what is now Ukraine, the Tartar army attacked the walled city of Kaffa using a gruesome form of biological warfare. Since the very deadly bubonic plague had affected some of the Tartar troops, they flung the dead bodies of the plague victims over the walls in the hopes of starting an epidemic in the city. It worked. The disease is actually spread by the fleas which are found on rats and between the plague ridden bodies, rats and fleas, the citizens soon fled the city and left it for the Tartars. Spreading extremely quickly, by 1350, the plague was hitting the cities of Europe, probably due to traders who inadvertently transported the plague as they went from city to city. The bubonic plague wreaked havoc on Europe killing millions. Bodies of plague victims were also used in 1710 when the Russian Army catapulted disease ridden corpses into the city of Reval, Estonia. The tactic was again successful but due in great part because people just panicked and fled. During the French and Indian Wars in America (1754 to 1767) was the first time a biological warfare agent was used on the continent. One of the British commanders devised a plan to “size down” the number of Native Americans that were not sympathetic to the British. Since there was a smallpox epidemic in Fort Pitt, the blankets, and other “infected” items laden with debris from the infected smallpox patients, were gathered and saved. Later, one of the British officers gave some of the items to the Indians who had been invited into the Fort. Like the Trojan Horse, smallpox sneaked into the Native American tribes and an epidemic erupted. Germany could have the dubious credit of initiating the modern era of biological warfare during World War I. The German scientists, on behalf of the Army developed biological weapons specifically—anthrax, glanders, cholera and a type of fungus. Among other things, the Germans infected mules with glanders and tried to also infect the horses of the French calvalry. Sheep were infected with anthrax and then shipped into Russia. Prior to the United States getting into World War I, covert activities by the Germans attempted to contaminate animal feed and infected horses intended for the America. In 1925, there was an attempt to control the use of biological elements in war but it turned out not to be quite effective. It was called the Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiting, Poisonous or Other Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. The Protocol actually prohibited bio-weapons but only the use, not the production or possession of the weapons and there was no provision to do inspections at all. The United States did not ratify this Protocol until 1975. Japan conducted biological warfare during World War II, although it is not widely known. The most extensive use of bio-weapons by Japan was the research and deployment that took place in Manchuria in the 1930’s clear until the end of World War II. Japan called this program Unit 731, and employed over 3000 scientists. Various experiments conducted on prisoners of war involved exposing them in various ways to horrific diseases—bacterial dystery, cholera, and the bubonic plague. Over 10,000 prisoners either died from the diseases or were infected then killed so that their bodies could be autopsied. In addition, biological warfare agents were released in 11 cities in China. Some had their water supply contaminated, some their food. In other cases, the Japanese collected bubonic infected fleas and dropped them over Chinese cities from planes. Some epidemics in the targeted cities were reported, but the wartime conditions did not allow for accurate data collection. The British initiated a biological warfare program around anthrax. As a test, they used the anthrax spores in a bomb and the target was Gruinard Island near Scotland. Several bombs were dropped on the island experimenting on the best dispersal method. Unfortunately, in 1943, sheep and cattle near the Scottish coast began coming down with anthrax. Although many tries were made, the island was never totally decontaminated to this day. Like Japan, the Nazi’s also used biological warfare on human subjects. Prisoners were forcibly infected with a wide variety of diseases in order to study the disease, but also to develop vaccines and drugs for the Germans. The latter reason was the one told to the public as the sole reason for the infection of the innocent prisoners, which was supposed to sound less inhumane. The War Reserve Service which was a U.S. civilian agency began work on an offensive biological warfare program in 1942. It had some facilities located at Camp Detrick, Maryland, and others in Indiana, Utah, and Mississippi. This was much less than a full fledged military operation although the Maryland facility produced more than 5000 anthrax “bombs.”A new production facility was constructed during the Korean War (1950-1953) for bio-warfare. It had more than adequate safety meansures for the protection of the staff and the surrounding population and their livestock. In addition, a program to develop proper vaccines, and anti-serum agents was begun in 1953. The era known as the Cold War was intense with both propaganda and the “arms race” like no other time in history. The U.S.S.R. accused the U.S. of employing “germ” warfare during the Korean Conflict in the early 1950’s. This accusation was made at the United Nations General Assembly and caused the direction of the entire U.S. program to change. The program used the “Surrogate Biological Agents” that were supposedly not poisonous to human beings. The chemicals were used to simulate the unleashing of toxic organisms such as the bio-warfare or chemical warfare substances. A secret U.S. government program in the 1960’s took the step of spraying bacteria in several U.S. cities. In San Francisco, one man died and others fell very ill with infection. In 1966, in New York, the bacteria was sprayed into the city’s subway system. It was ostensibly done to gauge the vulnerability of the subway to bio or chemical warfare from outside sources. This declassified material came out in the 1988 book “Clouds of Secrecy” by Leonard Cole. Another episode closely resembling the U.S. test happened in 1995 in Tokyo when sarin (nerve gas) was released in the subway tunnels by a Japanese cult group. Also in the decade of the 60’s, in Vietnam, the Communist Viet Cong put spikes of bamboo in pits and contaminated the spikes with human feces. Whoever stepped into the pit would not only be impaled upon the spikes but contract a virulent infection from the wound. The Soviet Union was accused of dropping mycotoxins into Cambodia, Laos, and Afghanistan, but no proof ever surfaced. Right here in the United States, the first documented bio-terrorist attack was in 1984 in Oregon when the Rashneeshee “cult” contaminated the salad bars in 10 different restaurants, which caused over 750 cases of salmonella poisoning to restaurant patrons. Chemical WarfareTypes of Chemical Weapon AgentsChemical weaponry appear in many different forms and have very different effects on the human body. The major types of chemical weapons according to their effects are:Choking agents and lung toxicants (chlorine, diphosgene, etc.)CyanidesVomiting agents (adamsite)Incapacitating agents (anticholinergic compounds)Nerve agents (sarin, soman, tabun, etc.)Lacrimating agents (pepper gas, etc.)Vesicting or blistering agents (lewisite, etc.)Other chemicals are similar to Chemical Weapons but technical not considered as such because they are not immediately toxic to human beings. For instance, agent orange that was used during the War in Vietnam was a defoliant but has arguably affected not only those that dispensed the chemical but people who came in contact with the chemical after the defoliation. Incendiary or explosive chemicals (such as napalm or dynamite) are another chemical in the similar family because their destructive effects are primarily due to fire or explosive force, and not direct chemical action on the human body, although direct contact on the human body can be very harmful.Since ancient times, there is evidence that there has existed various forms of chemical warfare. Early Chinese manuscripts speak of using toxic smoke made by burning wood dipped in tar and sulfur. The Chinese were clearly the originators of chemical warfare. Old Chinese writings contain different “recipes” for various noxious chemicals to be used on enemies. Recent findings have uncovered chemical weapons are at least 2000 years old as well. A British researcher found the first physical evidene of a battle at a Roman fortress in 256 A.D. where at least 20 of the soldiers buried there died from poison gas. This proof has brought to life what was formerly just written in manuscripts and texts. Persians were trying to lay siege to the city, and in order to do this they used bellows to pump lethal fumes obtained by burning sulfur crystals and bitumen, a tarlike substance into tunnels under the walls where the Romans were hiding. According to the writings, they only stopped blowing the smoke when they heard no more screams. Romans routinely poisoned the wells of cities they were taking over, especially in Asia. Plutarch, the historian, told of mounds of gypsum powder piled up by Roman troops near Spanish rebels. When the wind blew, the dust irritated the enemies’ eyes, and throats, making it more likely they would surrender. In 332 B.C. the people of the city of Tyre threw basins of burning sand towards the troops of Alexander the Great, creating the same effect as phosphorus coming down from the sky. WWI In World War I, Germany released chlorine gas in Belgium in 1915. Chlorine gas burns the throat and the lungs and can be fatal. It was the first time a weapon such as this was used in modern times and the soldiers panicked and were not at all prepared to defend themselves against it. Mustard gas, which is really a liquid, was unleashed by the Germans, in what was called “cloud tactics” which was mainly a general release of the substance which hovered close to the ground. That chemical attacks and burns the skin, eyes and lungs. Although the chemical weapons killed or permanently injured tens of thousands of soldiers, they were of little military significance because they often drifted back and also affected those who released the chemicals.Thousands of Allied troops were either wounded or killed in the chlorine and mustard gas attacks. The Allies eventually also developed toxic chemical agents by the end of the war, but more importantly they also were tailoring their defenses to consider the possibility of chemical weapons. In 1917 a new forms of release, by artillery munitions and mortar, was being used to deliver a huge amount of chemical agent, making the “hit and miss” cloud system obsolete. As World War I was coming to an end, chemicals were being used rampantly over the battlefields. At the end of the war it was estimated that over 125,000 tons of chemical warfare agents had been used, killing over 100,000 people and causing over 1 million casualties. WWIIEven with the devastating results of the chemicals used in the war, and the public’s horror at the knowledge of it, the development and use of chemical weapons continued. Prior to the full scale outbreak of World War II, Mussolini’s Italian troops used chemical warfare against the Ethiopians in 1935 and 1936. In its war against China, Japan used chemical agents. During World War II, both the Allied countries and the Axis developed chemical weapons almost continuously, but due to the problem of attaining an effective delivery system neither the Allies nor the Axis used them. Between 1962 and 1970, the United States dropped 14 million gallons of agent orange, a herbicide over the country of Vietnam. The idea was to defoliate the forests so that the enemy soldiers, the Viet Cong, could be readily seen and taken out. Approximately 10% of the entire land area of south Vietnam was sprayed with agent orange. It was actually a blend of two herbicides, and contained dioxin. The use of this dioxin was the largest ever in history. The effects of the agent orange were sudden killing huge amounts of forests, and tainting waterways and grasslands. The effects of the chemical on humans, became even more important, especially the resulting health problems cropping up with the soldiers who were serving at the time. Over 3 million soldiers either were involved in dispensing the agent orange, or on the ground, exposed to its effects. The Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides of the U.S. Institute of Medicine, dioxin causes the skin disease chloracne, and three types of cancers: soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Hodgkin's disease. The Committee also linked agent orange to respiratory cancer, prostate cancer, plus an elevated risk of spina bifida and other birth defects among the children of veterans who were exposed to the chemicals. Egypt used chemical weapons in its attacks against North Yemen in the 60’s; and also used extensively between 1983-1988 in the Iran-Iraq War. Iraq was actually the worst offender, using mustard gas and nerve agents caused Iran to agree to a treaty in August of 1988. Iraq, unbelievably, released nerve gas on its own population, killing over 5,000 Kurds in the area of Halabja in 1988. By its actions, Iraq caused other nations to more forcefully work towards the complete prohibition of chemical weapons, by organizing the Chemical Weapons Convention. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda released the information that they were working on radiological, biological, and chemical weapons. A large number of videotapes was shown on television in 2002, including the killing of dogs by the use of a type of nerve agent. Also in 2002, Chechen terrorists held a theater full of people hostage in Moscow. The Russian special forces used a aerosolized poison as an assault on the terrorists. All of the 42 hostage takers and 119 of the hostages died as a result of the gas agent. Dispersion Methods of Chemical WeaponsThermal dissemination is the use of explosives to spread a chemical agent this particular technique was originated in the 1920’s and was considered an improvement over the previous methods. It remains the main way of disseminating chemical agents to this day. Most devices consist of a bomb or some kind of a shell that contains a booster and the target agent. Thermal dissemination devices are not all that efficient. Much of the agent burns up in the blast and another large part just falls to the ground. Also the size of the particles are varied because it cannot easily be controlled. Aerodynamic disseminationAerodynamic dissemination is the non-explosive delivery of a chemical agent from an aircraft, allowing the force of the air itself to disseminate the agent. This type of dispersion is the most recent major development, originating in the mid-1960s. This method eliminates the explosive effects and supposedly makes the particle size more uniform. Of course, the altitude, wind and other factors can influence the dissemination of the particles. Sociopolitical Climate of Chemical Warfare China has studied and developed chemical weapons for centuries, however, the use of chemical warfare has usually been viewed with disgust and disdain in the western countries. Prior to 1915, the use of poisons as weapons was not really governmental protocol but rather isolated decisions in a battle or siege. But there have been, throughout history, wide ranging attempts to implement poison chemicals in several wars. Generally, however the development and study of the chemical weapons was all the further it went. (2001). [A Brief History of Chemical and Biological Weapons: Ancient Times to the 19th Century]. Retrieved Nov. 24, Heller, MAJ(P) Charles E., U.S. Army. (September 1984). [Chemical Warfare in World War I: The American Experience, 1917 - 1918]. Retrieved Nov. 24, 2004 Warner R, (translator), Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, 431 B.C.E., New York NY, Viking Penguin, 1972 Ramirez A, Was The Plague of Athens Really Ebola? New York Times, Sunday, August 18, 1996 Mayor A. Dirty Tricks in Ancient Warfare. Mil Hist Quart. 1997:10, 1: 37 Sipe CH. The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: Telegraph Press; 1929 Witcover J. Sabotage at Black Tam: Imperial Germany’s Secret War in America, 1914 – 1917. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; 1989 The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, Geneva Switzerland, June 17, 1925 Danzig R, Berkowsky PB.Why should we be concerned about biological warfare?.JAMA.Aug 61997;278(5):431-2Ferguson JR.Biological weapons and US law.JAMA.Aug 61997;278(5):357-60.[Medline]. US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease.Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook.4th ed.Frederick, Md: Fort Detrick:2000. ................
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