Using Clostridium botulinum as a Biological Weapon Essay -- Terrorism

Fatal Dilemma: Using Clostridium botulinum as a Biological Weapon Ever since the dawn of biotechnology, the world had to face a new dilemma: bioterrorism. Using biological agents such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc., bioterrorism attack aims to cause illness of death in people, animals, or plants as a method of warfare. Used throughout history, biological weapon serves as a pivotal role in disarming an army. Botulism toxin, known for the most toxic substance in the biological world, has been used throughout history as a biological weapon. The bacteria Clostridium botulinum causes botulism causes botulism disease, which is a serious paralytic illness that strikes all age groups. The clinical forms of botulism include foodborne botulism, infant botulism, and wound botulism. Botulism, if left untreated, is fatal; however, even treatment with antiserum can not provide full recovery. Botulism is rare a disease. Therefore, if anyone is diagnosed with foodborne botulism, investigation of food supply must be carried out promptly; for investigation of the botulism-diagnosed-individual's surrounding is the only method of detecting a potential bioterrorism attack. With the continuous advancements in biomedicine follows a continuous proliferation of bioterrorism, which uses biological agents for malicious purposes (Anderson 2). More specifically, bioterrorism is a method of terrorism that intentionally releases or disseminates biological weapons that may be in natural occurring or human-modified form (Botulism- Definition). Although bioterrorism is considered as a recent dilemma, the use of biological weapon predates recorded history, during the ancient times where biological toxins were extracted from plants and animals and ap... ... Oct 2001. Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Department of Health and Human Services. 21 Jul 2007 . Fong, I.W., and Ken Alibek. Bioterrorism and Infectious Agents. New York: Springer Science and Business Media, 2005. Hurlbert, R.E.. "Biological Weapons: Malignant Biology." 1997. 21 July 2007 hurlbert/micro101/pages/101biologicalweapons.html+no+tool+or+piece+of+kno wledhe+has+an+innate+moral+context&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us >. Knobler, Stacy L. , Adel A. F. Mahmoud, and Leslie A. Pray. Biological Threats and Terrorism. Washington DC: Institute of Medicine, 2002. Shapiro, Daniel S and Alice S. Weissfeld. "Botulism Toxin." Sentinel Laboratory Guidelines for Suspected Agents of Bioterrorism 21 July 2007 .