h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If worst comes to worst, the U.S. will be at war with Afghanistan. There is a very real possibility that biological and chemical weapons will be used in that war. The Pentagon has said that Iraq and other hostile nations have developed anthrax weapons, and Osama bin Laden is said to have been training his fighters in the use of chemical weapons. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of anthrax vaccine - the only plant that produces it is still working on getting its FDA license.

So I have several scary questions:

• Do you think that the U.S. will engage in biological war within its boundaries? What's the possibility of a new strain of plague being introduced into the country?
• What sort of chemical weapons are being used right now, and what effects do they have?

Any thoughts you guys have - good or bad - would be welcome.

i have a thought on this....
not being funny at all in what i am about to say....
i hope that everyone involved has enough common sense to not go that route but if what i am seeing holds true then we all have reason to be scared as h*ll.
Monsy

I think there must be a reason that biological warfare has not been used to this point. It's harder than people make it out to be.

There are a variety of chemical agents that are out there. I was going to write about them, but I don't remember enough off the top of my head. I'll check my references and get back to you. Maybe I could do an article.

In my opinion, chemical weapons are a threat to a civilian population, but not the military. They're trained and equip to fight even in a chemical environment. It downgrades your ability, but we're far more capable of fighting through it than most other armies.

I don't want to be a prophet of doom, but surely the whole intention of a chemical or (more likely) biological attack would be to target the civilian population, not the military?

Until last week I would have said that no-one would be insane enough to try such a thing. But now, I'm not so sure...

It doesn't serve much of purpose for use against the military. It slows them down a little bit. It's sort of like a minefield. It's an annoyance, and it marginally effects their ability to fight. Furthemore, it would degrade just about anyone elses ability to fight far more than it would ours. The Russians might eb able to handle it better, but I doubt if they still do live agent training like they used to.

They're far more useful against anyone who is not activly engaged in combat.

That's what I'm thinking too. The military will be prepared against chemical weapons with gas masks and oxygen tanks. The civilian population would be caught totally unawares with a chemical attack - such as nerve gas.

Today I'm hearing everybody's running out and getting a gas mask. One woman wanted to find a mask for her dog. A man called in, looking for a gas mask for his wife. "She's got big hair - we'll need an extra-long strap."

I'm more worried about biological warfare. There's still strains of the bubonic plague running around, influenza, and cholera. I've heard from relatively reliable sources (PBS) that the biology labs in Russia aren't being funded by the government any more. The employees are unsupervised and starving, so some of them are selling biological samples to whoever wants them. I have some question as to the origin of mad cow disease. What if they were able to unleash a strain of Heurtzfield-Jacob (sp?) on the U.S.?

This is the scariest thing I've heard yet. Fort Worth isn't that impressive in terms of landmark buildings, so the threat of an airplane didn't occur to me. Of course, they did capture two men on an Amtrak train in Fort Worth carrying $5000 US, boxcutters, and hair dye and took them to New York. But any sort of biological weapon would spread throughout the U.S., unless we took quarantine measures immediately.

Has anybody read 'The Plague Tales' or 'The Burning Road?' I think they're by Ann Benson. The books are based in the future after a strain of drug-resistant staphylococcus bacteria wipes out more than half the population. The safety measures they take, and how ineffective they turn out to be, really brings home the fact how vulnerable we really are to bacteria and viruses.

No-one really knows the exact mechanism by which Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease spreads as so few cases have been recorded. It doesn't seem to be contagious in any traditional sense, and it takes decades to become fatal, so it's not a likely candidate for biological warfare.

Thanks, Mycroft - I'm probably getting paranoid!

From what I've heard, Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease can be contracted by eating BSE beef. Lots and lots of BSE beef. Like the guy with nothing in his freezer but hamburger patties. But you're right, we don't know for sure what the vector is.

Although I agree that it isn't likely that they'll be spreading this around, it would be a great way to disable a population.

As it happens, I am that guy! Or did you have in mind someone who has more than 4 burgers in there and isn't due to go food shopping tomorrow?

Eeek!

No, actually, I'm thinking about a news story I heard when BSE was going around. There was one fellow who died of a mysterious ailment; the autopsy revealed an odd cobwebbing over the surface of the brain. When the investigators searched his house, they found that his freezer was chock-full (more than four!) of hamburger patties. Evidently this was all this guy ate. They never did link it conclusively to BSE, as far as I know. Still, it's a little worrisome...

But I ain't gonna worry no more. I'm tired of worrying. The weekend's here and I plan to find a large bottle of wine, fry up some chicken livers, and practice guitar until my fingers get all sore.

Thit thing is, that protective masks, aren't all that useful by themselves. Most chemical warfare agents can affect you if they get to exposed skin.

There are some things that the populace can do that will protect you to an extent. Thing of chemcial weapons as a fog or a light rain. Staying insed a modern house would probably protect you unless you were really close to the chemical round. If you're in a car, you can turn your air conditioner on max, which recycles the air, and causes over pressure. If you're outside, rain gear will help to an extent.

I think I probably should right that article. I need to start refreshing my memory on that stuff any way.

I really don't know all that much about bio. I don't think anyone has really used bio for a long time.