• 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)
  • BUP reported that James G. Endicott, "chairman of the communist-backed Canadian Peace Congress," claimed he had "'fully proved' Communist charges that the Allies are using germ warfare and believes the bacteria may have been produced in Canada. (medium.com)
  • During World War I, the Germans developed anthrax, glanders, cholera, and a wheat fungus for use as biological weapons. (medscape.com)
  • China and the DPRK (also referred to as North Korea) accused the United States, under the umbrella of United Nations intervention, of using fleas, flies and other insects that had been deliberately infected with plague, cholera, anthrax and other diseases, to deliver deadly pathogens to Communist troops and civilians. (medium.com)
  • Strong then infected 24 inmates at the Manila's Bilibid Prison with cholera, except-oops-the cholera was contaminated with bubonic plague. (afnn.us)
  • Strong was slapped on the wrist for not locking his incubators and for leaving a visiting physician alone in the laboratory where he may have exposed the cholera cultures to plague cultures. (afnn.us)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • Army doctors stationed in the Philippines had infected five Filipino prisoners with bubonic plague and 29 were induced with beriberi, which is caused by a thiamine deficiency. (afnn.us)
  • Offensive biological warfare in international armed conflicts is a war crime under the 1925 Geneva Protocol and several international humanitarian law treaties. (wikipedia.org)
  • Accordingly, biological agents are potentially useful as strategic deterrents, in addition to their utility as offensive weapons on the battlefield. (wikipedia.org)
  • It should be apparent that the launching of bio-warfare, as with conventional warfare, is considerably eased by locating military bases and offensive weapons and delivery systems as physically close as possible to one's potential enemies. (moonofshanghai.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)
  • 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)
  • Also, anything Americans bring into a nation, including biological pathogens, is considered as diplomatic content and thus not subject to search or examination. (moonofshanghai.com)
  • The use of bees as guided biological weapons was described in Byzantine written sources, such as Tactica of Emperor Leo VI the Wise in the chapter On Naval Warfare. (wikipedia.org)
  • Some biological agents (smallpox, pneumonic plague) have the capability of person-to-person transmission via aerosolized respiratory droplets. (wikipedia.org)
  • Clearly, the same strategy applies to biological warfare, this capability enhanced by the fact that much of US military bio-weapons research, unethical and illegal as it is, remains undisclosed to both the US Congress and to local authorities despite its being exceedingly dangerous. (moonofshanghai.com)
  • If a biological lab experiences an accidental or deliberate leak and poisons and kills hundreds of local citizens, the government can do nothing but file a protest with the US Embassy. (moonofshanghai.com)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • This was the case in 1906, when Harvard University professor and then-head of the Philippine Biological Laboratory, Richard P. Strong took a U.S. Army experiment and upped its ante. (afnn.us)
  • 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 warfare is distinct from warfare involving other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear warfare, chemical warfare, and radiological warfare. (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)
  • 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)
  • 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 use of biological agents is not a new concept, and history is replete with examples of biological weapons use. (medscape.com)
  • But more to the point, the US military has made no secret of its interest in developing biological weapons, and has been doing this for at least 60 or 70 years, with its research increasingly focusing on race-specific weapons. (moonofshanghai.com)
  • In all of this, we have the not-so-secret military biological laboratories in the US and elsewhere, and considerable evidence that the US has been the main employer of such weapons in the past. (moonofshanghai.com)
  • 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)
  • This was the first multilateral agreement that extended prohibition of chemical agents to biological agents. (medscape.com)
  • 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)
  • In contrast, defensive biological research for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes is not prohibited by the BWC. (wikipedia.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)
  • The picture is confusing because the US has various methods of disguising both military bases and biological laboratories, with some installations kept secret from even the US Congress, and thus subject to neither questions nor oversight. (moonofshanghai.com)
  • While containment of biological warfare is less of a concern for certain criminal or terrorist organizations, it remains a significant concern for the military and civilian populations of virtually all nations. (wikipedia.org)
  • First, let us look at the US military bases worldwide, this graphic from an al-Jazeera map [1] which is a bit on the conservative side, stating 750 bases in 80 countries and troops in 159 countries. (moonofshanghai.com)
  • What they need to be testing is MOPP gear as a method of dehydrating your own troops. (afnn.us)
  • The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service exposed African-American, Japanese-American, and Puerto Rican soldiers to mustard gas, using white servicemen as the control group. (afnn.us)
  • These reports have established that a preponderance of the evidence supports the fact the U.S. did engage in biological warfare during the Korean War. (medium.com)
  • A biological attack could conceivably result in large numbers of civilian casualties and cause severe disruption to economic and societal infrastructure. (wikipedia.org)
  • Yet, because of the propaganda and the applied behavioural psychology deployed as part of the psychological warfare targeting the unconscious mind, cognitive dissonance prevents many people from seeing or admitting this, even when presented with the evidence. (cvpandemicinvestigation.com)