Biological Terrorist Hazards case study and Chronology Paper
Posted by Winnie Melda on October 17th, 2018
Bioterrorism was being taken as a hypothetical treat before it became a reality in the US in the year 2001 when letters that contained a fine powder of dry anthrax spores got sent via email and consequently infected 22 people and killed seven. These serious consequences hinted the mayhem that is possible with a large-scale release of a bioterrorism disease agent. The findings form a recent research suggests that the bioterrorism threat is real and growing. Biological agents can be easily developed as weapons, they are more lethal compared to chemical weapons, they are less expensive and difficult to detect as compared to nuclear weapons (Khardori & Kanchanapoom, 2005). The diseases that can be caused by biological agents are a public health problem as well as a problem of national security.
Chronology of Anti-Bioterrorism (Biosafety) Actions (Siu School of Medicine, 2016)
1910 to 1920’s: there was usage of chemical and biological weapons and there were combat leads with the aim of banning their use.
1925: There was introduction of the Geneva Protocol that prohibited the use of chemical and biological weapons in war. Although US signed this treaty, it failed to ratify it. There was no provision for verification and inspection in the treaty.
1950’s to 1970’s The USSR and US build arsenals of chemical as well as biological weapons. In response to the same, there were international pressures that were aimed at drawing up new treaties to curb those weapons.
1969 President Richard Nixon renounced the development and use of biological weapons in war by the US and it restricted research to safety and immunization efforts. The ban was expanded to cover toxins three months later.
1972 a convention was made to prohibit the development, production, as well as the stockpiling of bacteriological and toxin weapons.
1975 The US ratified the convention on biological and toxin weapons plus the 1925 Geneva Protocol in January 1975. The convention began working as from March 26, 1975.
1980’s The arms control initiatives could not curb the proliferation of biological and chemical weapons.
1984: A draft treaty ban on the manufacture and storage of chemical weapons was presented by the Reagan administration to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
1990’s There issues concerning the exposure to biological and chemical weapons when the Gulf War broke out increased the demand for international treaties.
1991 after the Allied force got victory against Iraq, it was announced by the US that chemical weapons would no longer be used for any reason. Also, an international treaty took effect as from then.
April 1992 Borris Yeltsin, the Russian president declared that the program on biological weapons must be discontinued.
1993 The Chemical Weapons treaty was signed by President George Bush to ban the production as well as the use of chemical weapons
January 1997 The advisory committee of the president failed to find any evidence that could link the Gulf War Syndrome to the exposure to biological and chemical weapons
April 1997 New regulations were introduced with the aim of restricting access to chemicals and pathogens under the Antiterrorism and Effective Act spelling the death penalty for violators
April 29 1997 The Chemical Weapons Convention started working
July 25, 2001 The US rejected a protocol that was aimed at strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention and the whole approach to it.
References
Khardori, N., & Kanchanapoom, T. (2005). Overview of biological terrorism: potential agents and preparedness. Clinical Microbiology Newsletter, 27(1), 1-8.
Siu School of Medicine (2016). Overview of Potential Agents of Biological Terrorism.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in best nursing writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for custom nursing papers.
