Before I begin, let me put this out there. Ebola is most assuredly a deadly virus but I am not afraid nor am I in fear of the virus itself. I have prepared the best that I know how and will do what needs to be done to isolate myself if Ebola moves into the neighborhood.
Now that we have put that aside, I will tell you what I do fear: Biological Warfare. That scares the heck out of me.
At the risk of being overly dramatic, today I share another aspect of Ebola and other potential pandemic agents. Biological warfare, or bioterrorism, is one of those disasters that we should fear and whereas it has not yet happened on a global basis, the possibility is out there.
[amazon asin=006078184X&template=*lrc ad (left)]Ebola in the Western World
A few days ago, during our weekly call, George Ure and I discussed Ebola as it relates to internet marketing. Within days of Ebola landing on US soil, eBooks, video courses, and pandemic kits were being pitched by those wanting to make a buck on the backs of Ebola and pandemic-related fears. Even now, my email box is cluttered with daily reminders of what I need to do now to prepared – so long as I have $99.95 to spend on some video training, of course.
Sarcasm aside, we noted that without discussing it in advance, we had each posted a few Ebola related articles but then moved on to our normal fare of economic and coping news (Urban Survival) and prepping and lifestyle tips (Backdoor Survival).
Coming full circle, we agreed that in our opinion, most Ebola victims in the US and other western countries would stand a good chance [amazon asin=B00NTWTUKM&template=*lrc ad (right)]of recovery. We attribute this belief to better hydration with clean, pure water, the availability of state-of-the-art medical treatments, and sophisticated isolation and quarantine procedures (CDC protocol goofs notwithstanding).
If that is the case, what is the big deal?
The big deal and the cause for concern is the potential use of Ebola or other deadly agent as a tool for biological warfare. What is to stop an infected bioterrorist from walking across our boarder, getting on a plane headed to a major metropolitan area, and coughing [amazon asin=B008MCV43K&template=*lrc ad (left)]up a storm to spread the Ebola virus? Or introducing bodily fluids into the water supply of an urban area? Or simply adding Anthrax to the salt shaker in a popular restaurant?
Now that, the act of bioterrorism itself, is something to fear.
So here is the deal. Contributing Author Dr. Joe Alton, has written a thoughtful article that goes through the history of biological warfare and why we should or should not be concerned. He has asked that I distribute this article so that you can learn and become better educated relative to bilogical weapons.
I agree that information is power and leave it up to you to come to your own conclusions. Could Ebola be used as form of biological [amazon asin=B0049S9HJO&template=*lrc ad (right)]warfare?
Ebola as Biological Weapon?
With Ebola in the news, there are some that have pointed out the possibility that some nations may attempt to weaponize the virus. This is a concern that deserves discussion, so let’s talk about something that few consider a likely cause of a collapse scenario: biological warfare.
Biological warfare is the use of infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or their by-products to wreak death and [amazon asin=B002UFLQ60&template=*lrc ad (left)]havoc among a specific population. The user’s goal is to achieve control over an area or a segment of the population by weakening the ability to resist. Biological weapons don’t necessarily have to directly kill: unleashing a horde of locusts to destroy crops or agents that kill an area’s livestock can be just as effective.
HISTORY OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
This type of weapon has been used since ancient times, and even appears in the bible as some of the plagues visited upon Pharaoh by a wrathful God. Medieval accounts of diseased corpses catapulted into besieged cities abound; this method [amazon asin=B000URGFQG&template=*lrc ad (right)]was used as late at 1710, when the Russians attacked the Swedish city of Reval (present day Tallinn) in this manner.
The Western hemisphere was changed forever by the inadvertent introduction of smallpox into the Native American population, killing 90% in some areas and opening vast swaths of land for European colonization. In addition, purposeful biological warfare occurred against Native Americans when the British presented a large “gift” of infected blankets as a “peace” offering during Pontiac’s War in the mid-1700s.
As time progressed, new methods and infectious agents such as Anthrax were used in certain situations during World War I. As a result, use of biological weapons was banned by the Geneva Protocol in 1925, but research and production was still carried out by both sides during World War II. Research into the use of Anthrax by the United Kingdom left their laboratory area in Scotland contaminated for the next five decades.
Eventually, the storage, production, and transport of such agents was banned in 1972 by the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Despite this, there are a number of violations that have been documented in the former Soviet Union and Iraq, and various others suspected. Presently, 170 countries have signed the BWC pact.
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