• During World War I, the Germans developed anthrax, glanders, cholera, and a wheat fungus for use as biological weapons. (medscape.com)
  • The German-American physician Anton Dilger established a secret biological laboratory in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with the intent to grow the causative agents of anthrax and glanders. (medscape.com)
  • The earliest documented incident of the intention to use biological weapons is recorded in Hittite texts of 1500-1200 BCE, in which victims of tularemia were driven into enemy lands, causing an epidemic. (wikipedia.org)
  • Before the 20th century, biological warfare took three main forms: (1) deliberate poisoning of food and water with infectious or toxic material, (2) use of microorganisms or toxins in some form of weapon system, and (3) use of biologically inoculated fabrics. (medscape.com)
  • Biological warfare became more sophisticated against both animals and humans during the 20th century. (medscape.com)
  • Rudimentary forms of biological warfare have been practiced since antiquity. (wikipedia.org)
  • There are numerous other instances of the use of plant toxins, venoms, and other poisonous substances to create biological weapons in antiquity. (wikipedia.org)
  • Attempts to use biological weapons date back to antiquity. (medscape.com)
  • Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. (wikipedia.org)
  • When indexed to weapon mass and cost of development and storage, biological weapons possess destructive potential and loss of life far in excess of nuclear, chemical or conventional weapons. (wikipedia.org)
  • As a tactical weapon for military use, a significant problem with biological warfare is that it would take days to be effective, and therefore might not immediately stop an opposing force. (wikipedia.org)
  • They also developed a plague biological weapon by breeding fleas fed on plague-infected rats, and releasing millions of fleas in aerial attacks on Chinese cities. (medscape.com)
  • Since the Togo Unit had been supporting Ishii's biological weapon research promises, the budget for his unit increased. (pacificatrocities.org)
  • They allegedly spread plague in St. Petersburg, infected mules with glanders in Mesopotamia, and attempted to do the same with the horses of the French cavalry. (medscape.com)
  • Accordingly, biological agents are potentially useful as strategic deterrents, in addition to their utility as offensive weapons on the battlefield. (wikipedia.org)
  • Some biological agents (smallpox, pneumonic plague) have the capability of person-to-person transmission via aerosolized respiratory droplets. (wikipedia.org)
  • The potential spectrum of bioterrorism ranges from hoaxes and actual use of agents by individuals or groups against others, to state-sponsored terrorism that employs biological warfare (BW) agents and delivery systems that can produce mass casualties. (medscape.com)
  • The use of biological agents is not a new concept, and history is replete with examples of biological weapons use. (medscape.com)
  • This was the first multilateral agreement that extended prohibition of chemical agents to biological agents. (medscape.com)
  • Biological warfare and chemical warfare overlap to an extent, as the use of toxins produced by some living organisms is considered under the provisions of both the BWC and the Chemical Weapons Convention. (wikipedia.org)
  • Biological weapons may be employed in various ways to gain a strategic or tactical advantage over the enemy, either by threats or by actual deployments. (wikipedia.org)
  • In contrast, defensive biological research for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes is not prohibited by the BWC. (wikipedia.org)
  • During World War II, the Japanese operated a secret biological warfare research facility in Manchuria and carried out human experiments on Chinese prisoners. (medscape.com)
  • At the time, the Imperial Japanese Army internally referred to the unit related to Ishii's biological warfare as the Ishii Network and referred to Pingfan as the network's headquarters, since there were other research centers related to Unit 731. (pacificatrocities.org)
  • This was repeated in 1422 during the Hussite wars in Bohemia at the seige of Karlstejn (now in the Czech Republic) when invading forces hurled plague-striken corpses, dead cows, and 2000 cartloads of excrement at enemy troops. (medscape.com)
  • Several cases are known of researchers becoming infected and dying of Ebola, which they had been working with in the lab (though nobody else was infected in those cases) - while there is no evidence that their work was directed towards biological warfare, it demonstrates the potential for accidental infection even of careful researchers fully aware of the dangers. (wikipedia.org)
  • Biological warfare is distinct from warfare involving other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear warfare, chemical warfare, and radiological warfare. (wikipedia.org)
  • Like some chemical weapons, biological weapons may also be useful as area denial weapons. (wikipedia.org)
  • The earliest documented incident of the intention to use biological weapons is recorded in Hittite texts of 1500-1200 BCE, in which victims of tularemia were driven into enemy lands, causing an epidemic. (wikipedia.org)
  • In the 14th century AD, during the siege of Kaffa (now Feodosia, Ukraine) the attacking Mongol force hurled the corpses of those who died of plague into the city to attempt to inflict a plague epidemic upon the enemy. (medscape.com)
  • Drawing on Japanese military records, this study documents the deaths of 850 victims in the years up to 1943, the largest number infected with plague, cholera, and epidemic hemorrhagic fever. (apjjf.org)
  • Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. (wikipedia.org)
  • Biological warfare became more sophisticated against both animals and humans during the 20th century. (medscape.com)
  • The biological weapons Ishii sought to develop had humans as their target, and Unit 731 was established with this goal in mind. (apjjf.org)
  • Biological warfare is distinct from warfare involving other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear warfare, chemical warfare, and radiological warfare. (wikipedia.org)
  • Like some chemical weapons, biological weapons may also be useful as area denial weapons. (wikipedia.org)
  • Biological warfare and chemical warfare overlap to an extent, as the use of toxins produced by some living organisms is considered under the provisions of both the BWC and the Chemical Weapons Convention. (wikipedia.org)
  • Biological weapons include any organism or toxin found in nature that can be used to incapacitate, kill, or otherwise impede an adversary. (medscape.com)
  • Biological weapons are often characterized by low visibility, high potency, substantial accessibility, and relatively easy delivery. (medscape.com)
  • The experiments tested, among other things, the lethality of biological weapons and sought to determine the ability of the human body to survive in the face of various pathogens and in conditions such as extreme cold. (apjjf.org)
  • The unit epitomized the extensive organization for the development of biological weapons within the imperial army, which was referred to, beginning in the late 1930s, as the Ishii Network. (apjjf.org)
  • the units served as field laboratories and test sites for developing biological weapons, culminating in the experimental use of biological weapons on Chinese cities. (apjjf.org)
  • The trial use of these weapons on urban populations was a direct violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which outlawed the use of biological and chemical weapons in war. (apjjf.org)
  • It was set up, with the approval of top-level army authorities, as a facility to develop biological weapons. (apjjf.org)
  • It is said that Ishii first became convinced of the need to develop biological weapons with the signing of the Geneva Protocol in 1925. (apjjf.org)