Any scientist bent on destruction could use this information to attempt to clone extremely virulent strains of bacteria and viruses, Block contends.
He also points out that there are plenty of underpaid microbiologists in the world who might be eager to work for unscrupulous clients - producing incurable ``designer diseases,`` such as penicillin-resistant anthrax, or ``stealth viruses`` that infect the host but remain silent until activated by some external trigger, such as exposure to a normally harmless chemical.
History lessons
Biological warfare is as old as civilization, observes Block, but it was international revulsion over the widespread use of poisonous mustard gas during World War I that finally led to a 1925 treaty banning bioweapons during future wars.
``Disappointingly,`` Block writes, ``neither the U.S. nor Japan ratified the treaty before the advent of World War II, when anthrax and other bioweapons were secretly being developed by both countries - as well as by Germany, the U.S.S.R [now Russia] and Great Britain.``
During the Second World War, the Japanese military killed thousands of Chinese prisoners by subjecting them to experimental doses of anthrax, cholera, plague and other pathogens. Evidence also exists of a deliberate tularemia - or rabbit fever - attack by Soviet forces against German troops in 1942, although some experts say the incident never occurred.
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union launched full-scale bioweapons programs, which included the development of aerosol s
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Contact: Mark Shwartz
mshwartz@stanford.edu
650-723-9296
Stanford University
11-Jan-2001