-Report of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Operation Crossroads, June 30, 1947

Biological weapons have a long history in warfare. The first accounts of biological warfare date to the 6th century B.C. when the Assyrians poisoned the wells of their enemies with rye ergot (a disease of rye and other cereals caused by ergot fungus, similar in effect to LSD) and again when Solon of Athens poisoned an aqueduct with hellebore, (an herb purgative) during the siege of Kirrha. During a naval battle in 184 B.C. against King Eumenes of Pergamon, Hannibal’s forces hurled clay pots filled with venomous snakes onto the enemy’s decks. Hannibal defeated the Pergamene, as they were forced to fight man and snake.

Can biological weapons used throughout history be classified as weapons of mass destruction

From today’s perspective, and certainly mine, these attacks are clearly considered biological warfare. In the cases of the poisoned water supplies in the 6th century B.C., the same techniques are being used today. In an unprotected water supply, a saboteur could place a small amount of Ricin (an extremely deadly toxin derived from castor beans) contaminating billions of gallons of drinking water, thus potentially killing millions. Since the attacks on September 11, attempts have been made to protect our nation’s water sources from that sort of terrorist threat. Though the biological agents used in the 6th century B.C. themselves were not deadly, the physiological and psychological effects they produced would render the enemy’s attempts to resist useless. Also, the deliberate use of smallpox as a weapon against the Indians shows a clear understanding of the effects of biological weapons. The effects of such attacks show without a doubt, the deadly potential of biological weapons. Though biological weapons in use today may be more sophisticated due to advances in science, the means of delivery are very much the same.

When Christopher Columbus discovered North America in 1492, Europe had already been ravaged with smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, diphtheria, influenza, yellow fever, typhoid, syphilis, tuberculosis and a host of other plagues. But the Americas had been isolated from these European diseases. While it is not documented that the Spanish deliberately spread diseases, it is well documented that they were merciless with the natives. The colonists and their plagues destroyed whole Indian nations; estimates nearing a 98% death rate from diseases alone are not uncommon.

In 1714 an article in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society would lay the groundwork for a change in how biological warfare was viewed. The article contained a description of a technique used by a physician, Giacomo Pylarini of Smyrna, to offer some protection against smallpox. The technique was called variolation, which entailed taking some of the liquid from the pustules of a victim with a mild case of smallpox and rubbing it into a small scratch made on the person to be protected. Usually, the individual variolated would suffer a mild case of the disease and th

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