Biological Weapons: Bargaining with the Devil (Part Four)
The earliest recorded use of biological warfare was that of Romans putting dead horses into an enemy's water supply. Other documented examples include combatants hurling plague-ridden human corpses into enemy garrisons; giving blankets contaminated with smallpox to hostile forces; infecting enemy livestock with anthrax and the equine disease, glanders; and poisoning an adversary's water supply with intestinal typhoid bacteria. These heinous war practices may seem pre-modern; yet, readiness for biological warfare continues, aggressively and in extreme secrecy, today. Up to a dozen countries are suspected of offensive, or "first use," biological weapons programs, chief among them the United States.
From 1942 until the late '60s, a highly secretive, offensive, biological weapons research program, begun at the US Army's research facility at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, gained momentum in the United States. World War II German and Japanese scientists (whose war crimes were overlooked for their expertise in bacteria and viruses capable of sickening and killing livestock, plants and humans) were recruited and employed in it. In 1969, President Nixon learned of the large-scale biowarfare program and halted it, given its gruesome risks and the already existing overkill capacity of the US nuclear weapons arsenal. (1) Soon after, the US government signed and ratified the 1972 UN International Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention that outlaws all offensive biological weapons programs, that is, programs with first-strike intent and capability.
In late 2001, the US Department of Homeland Security rapidly resurrected research on biological warfare agents. The new agency seized upon the anthrax attack in October of that year, in which inhalable anthrax was sent through the US mail to certain Congressional politicians and journalists (but ultimately killed five postal workers), to warrant and market a bioweapons research agenda. The FBI alleged (yet never proved with direct evidence) that the source of the anthrax letters was Fort Detrick biodefense scientist, Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide as federal agents were pursuing him. The resurgence of biowarfare research in 2001 is one of the many militaristic actions taken under the banner of fighting terrorism, and it is strongly suspected to be in violation of the biological weapons convention. Some have suggested that this domestic terrorism was a deliberate act to pre-dispose the public for a new wave of biological warfare research.
World Health Organization Pandemic Threat Level - News
The World Health Organization has identified antibiotic resistance as one of the greatest threats to human health. The coalition's alternative vision for infectious disease research in the BU BSL-4 advocates investing the NIH funding in countermeasures
obesity, and lack of physical activity, even in children, in affluent societies. Lastly, the World Health Organisation has declared that diabetes has now become pandemic. Christopher Fernandez has been teaching and writing throughout Asia since 1984.
It's worth bearing in mind that the only thing we're stripping out from those growth rates are Avandia, Valtrex and Pandemic. We're still carrying GBP 35 million a quarter of healthcare levy under the Health Care Reform Act. We're still carrying an
The five-session tabletop exercise was closely coordinated with the Senegalese government to ensure realism and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have reviewed the overall concept for the
Goulding took a prima facie case to the Equality Authority, who ruled in his favour in 2009 and acknowledged that people living with HIV are incorrectly perceived as being unhealthy or a threat to public health. “People won't take a case like that if
Articles 20VN | Cure Swine Flu With a Little Known Natural Remedy ...
You don't need to tell me that this statement is shocking, and perhaps unbelievable at first.
How can I really believe it is possible to cure swine flu when the entire world is gripped by fear of the latest, "never before seen", strain of H1N1 influenza that threatens to cause a global pandemic? As I write, The World Health Organization has just raised the level of influenza pandemic alert to phase 5, for the first time in history. Governments worldwide are scrambling to cope with the possibility of a global pandemic.
First of all, what exactly is meant by a pandemic? According to Wkipedia, "An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population. In contrast to the regular seasonal epidemics of influenza, these pandemics occur irregularly."
Three pandemics have occurred in each of the last three centuries. In the twentieth century there was The Spanish Flu in 1918, the Asian Flu in 1959, and the Hong Kong Flu in 1968. A pandemic is caused by a strain of influenza that is transmitted to humans from another species, most commonly pigs, chickens and ducks. Such strains, because of their animal origin, are not affected by the immunities that humans have previously developed. Thus they can spread extremely rapidly.
Authorities have been predicting for several years that a new strain of flu is inevitable, and that it could cause a global pandemic. Does this mean we are destined to live in perpetual fear of the next "new" strain of flu? Is there not something that we can do right now to prepare for any and all new strains of flu? The answer to this question is going to shock you, and also bring you great relief.
First you need to know that the current medical approach to influenza focuses on targeting specific strains with proprietary, patented drugs. This latest strain of swine flu is "sensitive" to the patented drug "Tamiflu", which has already been stockpiled by several countries, including the US. If current quantities are sufficient to treat all diagnosed cases, and if the patients can get access to the drug in time, the current threat may be contained. Right now, this is the best hope that our governments have to protect their citizens.
World Health Organization Pandemic Threat Level - Bookshelf
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WHO | Current WHO phase of pandemic alert for avian influenza ...
Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least ... the post-peak period, pandemic disease levels in most countries with ...
BBC NEWS | Americas | WHO fears pandemic is 'imminent'
The World Health Organization raises the alert over swine flu to level five - a strong signal a pandemic is imminent, it says.
WHO | Swine influenza
... in compliance with the International Health Regulations (2005), held its second ... General has raised the level of influenza pandemic alert from the current phase ...
World Health Organization Raises Pandemic threat Level to 5 ...
But she added that the world "is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history. ... World Health Organization Raises Pandemic threat Level to 5 out of 6 ...
Pandemic Threat Level Raised by World Health Organization to ...
The raising of the threat level to the U.S. is a big deal, and it shows that the WHO is getting worried. This article looks at the impact.