Am J Epidemiol 2002; 156:488.
Copyright © 2002 by the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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From the Editor
Although the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent dissemination of anthrax spores through the US mail prompted a drastic increase in public awareness and concern, biochemical warfare and, by implication, international terrorism was a major concern at the international level long before these catastrophic events took place. In 1925, under the auspices of the League of Nations and with major support from the United States, 38 nations, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, adopted a "Protocol" prohibiting the use of chemical and biologic weapons in warfare. The inclusion of biologic weapons in the protocol was suggested by the government of Poland. The United States did not ratify the Protocol until 1974. Nevertheless, on November 25, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon issued a statement announcing that the United States "shall renounce the use of biological agents and weapons and all other methods of biological warfare." Ostensibly, the United States subsequently destroyed its stocks of chemical and biologic weapons.
Then another conference in Geneva produced the Biologic and Toxic Weapons Convention of 1972, which prohibited the development, production, stockpiling, and dissemination of biologic or toxic weapons. The United States ratified this Convention in 1975. However, on August 11, 2001, the US government proposed to terminate, without action, another international conference aimed at strengthening the 1972 Convention. A compromise was agreed upon to suspend consideration of the 210-page protocol for a year. As of this writing, no further action has been taken.
The foregoing illustrates some of the political complexities involved in enacting policies aimed at preventing the use of biologic and chemical weapons. Of course, those epidemiologists with expertise in infectious diseases and toxicology will be expected to play an important role in the technical aspects of control of bioterrorism. However, all epidemiologists should be aware of the issues and prevention strategies that are being addressed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other federal agencies. For this, one needs to periodically visit the CDC website and click on "Bioterrorism: Preparedness and Response." Furthermore, as public health professionals, it behooves us to be aware of the broader context within which bioterrorists operate. For this, one may find helpful the website of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (click on "The Chemical and Biological Warfare Project") or the recently revised 1982 book, A Higher Form of Killing (1), by British journalists Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman.
REFERENCES
- Harris R, Paxman J. A higher form of killing: the secret history of chemical and biological warfare. London, United Kingdom: Arrow Books, 2002.
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