# 2497
Biological terrorism is nothing new.
In the recent paper, Emerging Infections: A Perpetual Challenge, the authors remind us:
The Black Death may also have been associated with one of the earliest recorded examples of bioterrorism. In 1346 a Tartar army besieging the garrisoned Genovese city of Caffa (now Feodosiya, Ukraine) was devastated by plague. The Tartars reacted by catapulting “mountains” (probably thousands) of plague corpses into the city, allegedly transmitting it to the besieged Genovese. 600 years later, during World War II, Japanese troops were less successful in starting a plague epidemic by dropping paper bags filled with infected fleas on Chinese cities.
And we saw, in 2001, the chaos and concern that emanated from the mailing of a small number of anthrax laden envelopes here in the United States.
The problem, from a bio-terrorist's perspective, is finding an effective delivery mechanism. Bird flu, as it stands now, isn't efficiently transmitted between humans, reducing its value as a terror weapon.
A terrorist needn't necessarily target human victims, however, in order to inflict damage on another nation.
Agricultural interests, such as the poultry industry, or farming, could be devastated by the introduction of bird flu, or wheat rust, or some other non-native plant or animal pathogen.
Regardless of how likely it is that terrorists will unleash a deadly pathogen on any of our shores, Mother Nature already has a well established record of serving up deadly, efficiently transmitted, pandemics and epidemics on a regular basis.
Whatever the source, we need to be prepared to meet the challenge.
This report from the Telegraph.co.uk.
Terrorists could strike Britain by infecting country with bird flu
Terrorists could strike Britain by infecting the country with bird flu or Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a leading group of security experts has warned.
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:15AM GMT 27 Nov 2008
A commission led by Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, identified 27 countries where terror organisations could become a threat to the UK.
The report by the Institute of Public Policy Research warns that one of the biggest emerging threats comes from terrorists turning to biological warfare.
The assessment comes from the IPPR's Commission on National Security for the 21st century which is chaired by Lord Ashdown and Lord Robertson, the former Secretary General of NATO, and includes Lord Guthrie, the former Chief of the Defence Staff and Sir David Omand, the former security and intelligence coordinator in the Cabinet Office.
It says the danger from pandemic diseases such as SARS and Avian Flu is growing and that existing arrangements to respond to serious incidents are inadequate which means "a serious disease outbreak or bio-terrorism incident in the next 18 months could tip the global economy from serious recession into a global depression."
The commission warns that the ingredients for sarin gas and mustard gas are easily available, that radioactive materials are in wide use in hospitals and industry and that there are insufficient checks on who is buying biological agents.
"This in turn could allow a terrorist to buy genes for use in the engineering of an existing and dangerous pathogen into a new more virulent strain," the report says.
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