The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 26, 2001, Image 7

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Wednesday, September 26, 2001
THE BATTALION
fl new kind of war?
Experts fear biological attack
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By Melissa Braddock
THE BATTALION
A terrorist attack need not be
obvious as wrecking a jet into
skyscraper. A crop duster or a
odifted fire extinguisher could
liver a weapon that is invisi
le, hard to detect and at least as
adly as a bomb.
A small cloud of bacteria or
iruses could silently and easily
feet thousands before doctors
_,/en recognized the problem,
as everyone5i I j_[ ours a f ter terrorist
id to the trap: | tac k s on the World Xrade
for oursotis l enter an( j t p, e Pentagon, feder-
. |l health agencies notified state
^-^ealth departments to "initiate
rvr'nr surveillance for any
nusual disease occurrence or
creased numbers of illnesses
at might be associated with
ay's events."
This warning was passed on
to doctors, labs, local health
■epartments and 91 1 centers
■round the nation. Security was
tightened at the Centers for
ftisease Control (CDC), and
lioterrorism response teams
were put on alert.
I In New York, military surplus
stores are reported to have sold
Jut of gas masks.
edfrom Afi All these measures were only
,„,,*>recau/jonary. and there has
I bl fort|i(® een noe - ence °' a btologtcal
1 or chemical assault.
ti P ^ ow ’ ex P erts are warning
ut detinitf) 1 t | lal t h ere j s a significant risk of
ore reshuraif
s occur. Col
>r these rare
a great u
)le. Planned
j, but years fej
s will last
I ones.
; in the priw:
onal.
bioterrorist attack and that the
United States is not prepared to
deal with such an attack.
"Anything is possible when
dealing with religious fanatics,"
said Don Jenkens, an instructor
in the Texas Engineering
Extension Service at A&M who
teaches threat and risk assess
ment training courses focusing
on terrorism to law enforcement
and emergency personnel.
"Given that we know that
Iraq has biological and chemical
weapons programs and that bin
Laden and his al Qaeda network
have close ties with Iraq, you can
draw you own conclusions. I’d
say that they definitely have the
means available," Jenkens said.
Military use of biological
and chemical weapons is noth
ing new. Smallpox was used as a
weapon by British forces in the
French and Indian War when
they gave infected blankets to
hostile American Indians. Tear
gas and mustard gas were used
widely in WWI.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
used chemical weapons against
both Iran and Iraqi Kurds during
the 1980’s, and during the Cold
War. the United States and the
former Soviet Union built vast
genn-warfare stockpiles.
Most recently, a militant
Japanese sect released sarin
nerve gas on the Tokyo subway
in 1995 killing 12 and injuring
thousands.
In 1972, a biological weapons
treaty was signed by 143 coun
tries to outlaw the development,
production, and stockpiling of
biological weapons, but interna
tional treaties do little to hinder
terrorists.
A state department report lists
several countries suspected of
developing biological weapons
including Russia, Iraq, China,
Syria, Iran, Egypt, Lybia, Taiwan,
and North Korea. It is considered
likely that hidden research
remains undetected elsewhere;
programs are easily hidden as
medical or agricultural research.
A leader of Afghanistan's
Taliban told The Associated
Press last year that bin Laden
was training fighters in the use
of chemical weapons, and the
New York Times has reported
satellite pictures of terrorist
training camps in Afghanistan
that show dead animals on test
ranges, a scene suggesting
experimentation with biological
or chemical weapons.
Attorney General John
Ashcroft told Congress that a
suspected hijacker in the attack
on the World Trade Center had
shown interest in crop-dusters.
Threat of chemical attack is
somewhat higher than that of a
biological attack, but biological
weapons pose the greatest threat
because of their ability to spread
quickly beyond those affected
by the initial attack. Effects may
not be apparent for days or
weeks, by which time the dis
ease could have spread massive
ly-
Although any infectious agents
or toxic chemical could in theory
be used as a weapon, experts have
pinpointed that smallpox, anthrax,
botulism and bubonic plague as
the most likely threats.
The most likely bioterrorist
agent is anthrax. A particle the
size of a speck of dust can cause
death within 2-3 days of the
onset of difficult to diagnose
flu-like symptoms.
Even more feared, although
harder to obtain, is smallpox
virus. Initially appearing similar
to chicken pox, smallpox is
lethal and spreads rampantly.
The virus killed approximately
120 million people during the
early 20th century before being
eradicated by vaccination pro
grams.
Today, there are only known
stocks of smallpox are in two
labs, one in the U.S. and one in
Russia, but experts fear that
other nations may have unde
clared stocks.
"We all hope that smallpox is
inaccessible to these guys. If it
isn't, if they used it as a weapon,
it would be a disaster," Jenkens
said.
He added that since smallpox
vaccinations were discontinued
in the 1970's and only last for 10
years, no one in the U.S. would
be immune.
If a large-scale biological or
Page 7
chemical attack were launched
against civilians, the United
States isn't really prepared to
handle it, according to a report
earlier this year from the CDC.
Most doctors are unfamiliar
with these diseases and may fail
to diagnose them, and hospitals
are not prepared to deal with such
massive numbers of patients.
Vaccine supplies are limited.
"We don't really have an
infrastructure to deal with this at
all. If it happens, doctors and
emergency rooms will be the
front line, not police and fire
man who are trained in emer
gency response," Jenkens said.
One reason for the lack of
preparedness is that the risk of
such an attack has, until recent-
CHAD MALLAM • THE BATTALION
ly, been considered low.
Many experts have tradition
ally felt that the scientific and
technological difficulties involved
in obtaining a substance, produc
ing it in large quantity, and dis
persing it effectively would put
such weapons beyond the scope
of terrorist organizations. But
Jenkens and many other experts
now warn otherwise.
"When people say that these
weapons are to difficult for ter
rorists to build and use, they
aren't understanding terrorists
today," Jenkens said.
"These people are intelligent,
well-equipped and well-con
nected. There is only one reason
to try to get access to crop-
dusters, and that's if they have
something to drop."
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