I apologize for the doomerism. I know how unpleasant that can be. Please debunk this. Please.

A bio-terrorism scenario

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Answers

I suppose a policy of bio-chem Mutually Assured Destruction is possible but that requires an enemy of some rationality like the Soviet Union. It also requires that we have such weapons in quantity. I think we destroyed them all, unless we lied.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

I wholeheartedly support the free press and all that, but must they give some of these loonies any ideas they might not already have? After all, they can't wait to see Allah (and all those virgins), and they'd just love to take some of us infidels (as many as possible) with them!

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2001

The printed version of that article included a map showing how a plane could dump a substance just to the west of Washington, DC and how the winds would spread it over the city. The arrow showing the stuff being spread by the wind went almost right over my house. So, no, I won't be debunking this one.

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2001

Lars:

The debunking answer is different for each proposed organism. Let's take anthrax; Bacillus anthracis . The organism is everywhere. I can go into one of my fields, scoop up dirt, plate it out and find it. Epidemic? It is not transmitted from human to human. Drop it from a plane; you couldn't drop enough to change the native population. Indeed, it wouldn't be effective dropped from a plane or sprayed from a cropduster. Use as a weapon requires maintaining a suspended aerosol. Really quite complex spray engineering.

To learn more about anthrax go to the CDC site:

Anthrax

For the different virus and bacterial groups discussed the requirement for spray engineering remains the same. Retention of viability becomes a problem for some of these.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001

Lars, by-the-by:

Don't confuse anthrax [the disease] with Bacillus anthracis [the organism causing the disease]. The organism is everywhere. The disease is more commonly limited to countries with less advanced technologies. You could be forgiven for the mistake; all of the press makes the same mistake. :)

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001