Biological warfare

“ While there may be some legitimate need for what are called pathogens in medical research, obviously much closer scrutiny should be exercised in approval of exports of materials of this kind to countries known or suspected of having active and aggressive biological warfare programs. Iraq has long been suspected of conducting biological warfare research in addition to its known chemical and biological warfare research programs. ”

“ We want to keep biological weapons out of the hands of people who are intent on destruction. At the same time we can be prepared--if these germs and agents fall in the hands of a potential terrorist--by preparing an effective response plan. ”

“ The invaders, if they gain a foothold at all, soon secure an advantage by reason of their terrific rate of increase. In some instances they carry on the war by producing poisonous substances, in others they rob the animal cells of food and oxygen. If the organism can withstand these assaults, can keep up its nutrition during the long siege, can ultimately destroy its assailants, it wins the battle. Fortunately for us, victory for once means victory forever, at least in many cases. Most contagious diseases attack an individual but once in his lifetime. ”

“ IT is universally admitted that economic entomology, like such other branches of applied biology as medicine and sanitary science, is to a very considerable extent the strategics of our warfare with a host of parasites, which are forever endeavoring to destroy our bodies, our domestic animals, our food supply, our clothing and the very materials with which we construct our dwellings and on which we write or print our interpretations of the wonderful world in which we live. ”

“ The striking success in coping with the infectious diseases, which in all other recent wars have been far more deadly than the weapons of the enemy, shows that modern medicine war prepared for this aspect of the war, and had ready for use the main lines of treatment which would take the sting from these scourges of warfare. ”

“ Indeed we might compare the cases of fungi which attack the root and collar, and so strike at and cut off the water supply, to a compact army which at once cuts off the enemy from his narrow base; whereas the innumerable units which bring about an epidemic attack on the leaves, and so surround the enemy and cut off his food supplies all round, is rather like a much larger army which cannot get in [116] beyond the natural barriers of the tissues, and so puts a cordon all round the territory and seizes the multitudes of food-stuffs at the frontiers. ”

“ These enemies next to wars and fungi are the most destructive agencies on earth. Could they but be eliminated man’s struggle against opposing forces would be in large measure overcome. The results of recent work in economic zoology, both in regard to the destruction of enemies and protection of useful mammals, birds and fishes, furnish a bright outlook for the future.
Protozoology.—Partly as an experimental field for the solution of general biological problems and partly because of its practical applications the study of protozoa has now developed into a special science. ”

“ When we consider that tuberculosis, diphtheria, cholera, tetanus, typhoid fever, anthrax, malaria and a host of other contagious diseases have each been proved to be of parasitical origin, an idea may be conveyed of the range of the subject. The living organism may be regarded as constantly engaged in a warfare with these silent and apparently insignificant messengers of destruction and death, with the result that too often the battle ends in favour of the attacking enemy. ”

“ The old lady’s belief that microbes have pink eyes and ravenous teeth may not be perfectly accurate, yet judging from their insidious attacks on unsuspecting mortals we are warranted in assuming that they have other very effective means of combat. The spectacle of internecine warfare going on in their little world, as revealed under the microscope, would afford from its novelty an exhibition worth going miles to see. ”

“ In the warfare with the pathogenic microbes the idea of employing certain species as our allies, and opposing them against the very dangerous ones, is brilliant, and there are many facts encouraging the belief that the kingdom of the microbes may be further divided against itself, through the natural voracity of its numerous clans. ”

“ The relations of protozoa and bacteria, conger-eels and other fish, English sparrows and hawks, plants and herbivorous animals, are typical examples of the universal conflict in which all organisms are involved in some way. Again it is only too evident that human beings must participate every day in some form of warfare with other species. In order that food may be provided for mankind the lives of countless wild organisms must be sacrificed in addition to the great numbers of domesticated animals reared by man only that they may be destroyed. ”

“ Why worry about the flow of potentially dangerous infectious agents within our borders? Let me read you a few lines from an article on the threat posed by these agents when they are converted into biological weapons, written by U.S. Navy Commander Stephen Rose for the Naval War College Review. ”

“ The "bio" part of biogerm warfare or biochemical warfare is the living organism, and that is what was inserted in the salad bars that caused the illness of about 700 people. We know germ warfare has been used, so the threat is real.
But before people attempt to respond to this threat by rushing out and buying items, we need to put the threat of bioterrorism in perspective. The overall probability of a bioterrorist attack is low. ”

“ But let a rupture or wound occur, and bacteria will enter the body, and, when once the enemy is in place, it will be too late. One sole chance of safety remains to us, and that is that in the warfare that it is raging against our tissues the enemy may succumb. M. Pasteur has shown that the blood corpsucles sometimes engage in the contest against bacterides and come off victorious. In fact, chickens are proof against poisoning by charbon, because, owing to the high temperature of their blood, the bacterides are unable to extract oxygen from the corpuscles thereof. ”

“ Of course, it is prudent to take measures to prepare against the possibility of a biological weapons attack and concerted action across a policy continuum that extends from prevention through preparedness to consequence management is necessary. However, as we have demonstrated, any bioterrorism attack will most likely be one using a pathogen strain with less than optimal characteristics disseminated through crude delivery methods under imperfect conditions, and the potential casualties of such an attack are likely to be much lower than the mass casualty scenarios frequently portrayed. ”

“ The process of good health is in part a continual combat with slight and unnoticed infections. Because of victories over small invasions, a human body acquires defenses against larger invasions of contagion. Without such constant small victories, a body ceases to keep its defenses strong against beach-heads of infection. Yet malnutrition or even exhaustion can weaken a body once admirably equipped for this sort of guerilla warfare. ”

“ So in general, the invasion is stopped at the first lymph gland. A few thousand white corpuscles fall in the war. The enemy is massacred to the last man. And the body is saved.
Or else the foe get the upper hand; increase faster than the defenders can kill them off; break through the defense; enter the blood stream; invade the whole body; overrun the country; and put the inhabitants to the sword.
Lymph Cells or White Blood Corpuscles
All our lives long, every day of our lives, we keep up this fight against disease. ”

“ Every composite organism maintains a certain proportion of leucocytes as representing its standing army. When the body is invaded by bacilli, bacteria, micrococci, chemical or other irritants, information of the aggression is telegraphed by means of the vaso-motor nerves, and leucocytes rush to the attack; reinforcements and recruits are quickly formed to increase the standing army, sometimes twenty, thirty, or forty times the normal standard. In the conflict, cells die and often are eaten by their companions ”

“ Plainly, the body must have another set of resisting forces which is concerned in the final recovery. Although weakened by the poisoning and suffering from the disease, it does not yield the battle, but somewhat slowly organizes a new attack upon the invaders. ”

“ They are seldom found in actual association, each is best adapted to a particular environment; there is no reason to suppose that they fight. It is so throughout Nature. Animals may utilise other species as food; but that is true of even, the most peaceable and civilised human races. The struggle for existence means that one species is more favoured by circumstances than another species; there is not the remotest resemblance anywhere to human warfare.
We may pass on to the second claim for war: that it is an essential factor in the social development of primitive human races. ”

“ Practically with all living animals, the first consideration is food. If all living animals could obtain abundance of pleasant and suitable food without preying on one another, the scene of war which Nature presents would perhaps in a great measure disappear. Yet this warfare is as conspicuous in the vegetable as it is in the animal kingdom. There is a certain amount of nourishment in a given piece of ground, and for that nourishment the plants upon it will compete, some thriving and multiplying to the hindrance and destruction of the others. ”

“ He has shown that an army of small cells, called phagocytes, which wander through the blood and tissues, are able to attack the microbes of disease, and that after a struggle they are able in many cases to kill these voracious invaders. In so doing, however, the weaker phagocytes succumb to the struggle, while those which are left alive within the body of the convalescent patient possess the power of resisting and destroying the particular microbe which had undertaken the invasion. ”

“ But many of the means of animal defence are in themselves almost inscrutable; we see the weapon used, but cannot account for its present existence. Natural selection may explain the improvement and survival of such useful organs, but their origin is still obscure. ”

“ On this ground one must infer that, in accordance with the same law of natural selection, the bacteria of acute infections have met by natural selection each advance in the struggle of the host for immunity. Hence the fast and furious struggle between man and his microscopic enemies merely indicates to what extent natural selection has developed the ATTACK and the DEFENSE respectively. This struggle is analogous to the quick and decisive battles of the carnivora when fighting among themselves or when contending against their ancient enemies. ”

“ We have learned of late that not infrequently more than one germ species may be at work in producing the cell disturbance which we call disease, and that an individual whose inherent protective mechanism promises a favorable outcome to the fight when one enemy alone is within the citadel, may speedily succumb upon the entrance of its allies. ”

“ Before the days of the steam engine, animal plagues advanced slowly and uncertainly, excepting in the presence of a great European war, which drew animals from all available sources, congregating them in large mutually infecting droves in commisariat parks, and marching them in the wake of the army for its daily supply. ”

“ Not only that, but when the enemy actually gains entrance either by storming a wound or sneaking in through some unguarded opening, then the white cells rally to the attack, surrounding and destroying the invading microbes. ”

“ What Becomes Of The Tadpole’s Tail The lymph cells, blood cells, white blood corpuscles, as they are variously called, are a sort of standing army, always on duty to repel invasion by any living germs of disease. In times of peace, however, when there is no enemy to be set upon and devoured, they have to work. All soldiers have to work when there is no fighting to be done ”

“ In many campaigns of the past, disease has slain its thousands where bullets and shells have killed hundreds, and even the twentieth century with its marvelous science of sanitation has not defeated the direful common enemies of allies and foes. Why disease should attack masses of men in the prime of life, living in the open air, and on the whole well fed and clothed, at first sight seems strange, but when we remember that modern fighting begets an intolerable thirst, which the soldier is naturally tempted to slake as best he can and when he can, at least one reason is not hard to find. ”

“ Helen, countering the threat of biological weapons is an administration priority and has been a priority of the United States government for a number of years. Unfortunately, the biological weapons threat around the world is growing and it presents a real challenge to the United States, particularly a challenge in terms of protecting our men and women in the Armed Forces. ”

“ If we are in good health our blood cells are alert, active, and capable of defending us against any invading foe in the form of a microbe or bacteria. If we are not in good health the bacteria may overcome the white blood cells. If we inhale a large number of the consumptive bacteria at one time, and they succeed in getting into the lung substance, they are immediately met by an army of blood [Pg 411] cells, all bent on capturing them. An actual battle is fought and the deciding factor of the battle will be the condition of the patient. ”

“ The circular covered a broad field, including microscopic materials as well as gross organs and tissues; such pathogenic bacteria as might be isolated in the American Expeditionary Forces; specimens of animal parasites, preferably alive; helmets and other bodily protections; instruments and apparatus; and paintings, drawings, and diagrams of medical interest.
"For the psychic effect, a missile removed from the body of a wounded soldier may be given to him if he wishes to keep it," said the circular in paragraph 12. ”