America’s Preparedness In Chemical Or Biological Attack.

Before we look at the issues, however, we must first look at the origins of these threats on mankind. “As long ago as 429 B.C. the Spartans burned pitch and sulfur to produce poisonous fumes under the city walls of the enemy”(Taylor 1). Chemical weapons were used during WWI that US citizens first saw for the first time, namely on those soldiers who fought in Europe. For those not killed by these gases, the devastating effects of these weapons continued on these soldiers for many years after they returned home from the war.

During World War II (WWII) it was common knowledge that the Germans and Japanese, and to a lesser extent, the US were experimenting with chemical and biological weapons. It was only after the agreements of post WWI, the Geneva War Conventions, that no country utilized these weapons to any great extent in war. Development, however, was not slowed by these conventions, only usage.

Some of the most deadly chemical and biological weapons are Anthrax, Cholera, Smallpox, The Plague, Ricin, Chlorine Gas, Hydrogen Cyanide, Sarin, and VX. Some of the symptoms include fatigue, blurred vision, nausea, diarrhea, blood poisoning, respiratory failure, frothing at the mouth, blindness, and convulsions. In many peoples opinion these weapons are worse than nuclear and I think they are right.

The most vulnerable target for contamination by a terrorist is a city’s water supply. There are reservoirs all over the place so it would be hard to detect it. “Even after a city’s water is contaminated, the damage can be limited. You simply shut off the water-distribution center from the reservoir. But the what do you do for water?”(Tully 2). Once our water sources are contaminated there is not much we can do. The key to survival on this planet is water, without it we will die.

The Clinton Administration understood the need for our country in time of attack. “Over the last two years, the (Clinton) Administration has almost doubled the money devoted to protecting Americans against attacks with unconventional weapons”(Solomon 130). There is also a creation of 25 medical emergency teams to be able to react quickly in case of contamination anywhere in the U.S. There is a “Biological and Toxic Weapons Treaty of 1972 which prohibits the development, use, or stockpiling of biological or toxins”(Cobb 52). We have too programs to develop vaccines or immunizations with different organisms.

Since these weapons of mass destruction have been created the world has changed forever. “Recent history demonstrates that neither arms control treaties, global missile defense or the moral aversion associated with the use of biological or chemical weapons will deter the use of these agents as weapons of mass destruction”(Web

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