Research on the use of anthrax as a weapon dates back 80 years .
Today, at least 17 nations are believed to have offensive biological weapons
programs; but it is uncertain how many are working with anthrax .
Highlights in
the development of anthrax as a weapon follow:
| » | The first recorded use of anthrax as a weapon
was in 1915. German agents in the U.S. injected horses, mules and cattle
being shipped to Europe with the anthrax bacterium.
|
| » | In 1937, Japan began a biological warfare program in
Manchuria, including tests involving anthrax.
|
| » | In 1942, the United Kingdom experimented with methods
to distribute anthrax spores, off the coast of Scotland at Gruinard
Island. These spores persisted and remained theoretically capable of
infection for decades afterwards. A subsequent decontamination effort,
took nearly 10 years to clean up the island.
|
| » | The United States began developing anthrax as a biological
weapon in 1943.
|
| » | In 1969, President Nixon declared an end to the U.S.’ offensive
biological weapons program, while keeping the defensive work in operation.
|
| » | In 1970, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee
estimated that there could be 100,000 casualties following a theoretical
aircraft release of 50 kg of anthrax over a developed urban population
of 5 million .
|
| » | In 1972, the development and stockpiling of biological
weapons is outlawed by the International Biological Weapons Convention.
|
| » | In May of 1979, aerosolized anthrax spores were accidentally
released at a Soviet Union military research facility in Sverdlovsk
resulting in one of the most deadly anthrax epidemics known. There
were 96 victims in all; seventeen had skin infections and survived,
seventy-nine had intestinal infections; of these, 64 died. This outbreak
demonstrated the potential deadly power of an anthrax aerosol. Anthrax
aerosol is odorless and invisible following release and has the potential
to travel many kilometers before disseminating
. Evidence suggests that following an outdoor aerosol release, persons
indoors could be
exposed to a similar threat as those outdoors .
|
| » | In the early 1980’s, the Army acquired a strain
of anthrax known as the "Ames strain" as part of a national
search for different types of anthrax to use in testing vaccines. The
strain is known to be highly virulent and was identical to the strain
used in the 2001 attacks in the U.S.
|
| » | In 1991, prior to the Persian Gulf War, it was suspected
that Iraq had researched anthrax and other biological weapons and had
those biological weapons in their arsenal. As a countermeasure, U.S.
troops were vaccinated against anthrax before the war.
|
| » | An economic model developed by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested a cost of $26.2 billion to treat
100, 000 people exposed to anthrax .
|
| » | In Japan, the terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo, known for
their release of sarin, a type of nerve gas, in a Tokyo, Japan, subway
station in 1995, dispersed aerosols of anthrax throughout Tokyo on
at least 8 occasions. It is not known why, but this exposure did not
cause any illness .
|
| » | In 1995, Iraq admitted to producing 8,500 liters of
concentrated anthrax as part of biological weapons program .
|
| » | Shortly after the attacks of September 11, a series
of letters were mailed anonymously to several news media companies
and government officials in the United States. The letters contained
a high-grade, finely textured version of anthrax later identified as
identical to the Ames strain. An epidemic ensued in which 22 individuals
were sickened by the anthrax bacteria. Five people died from inhalation
anthrax. |