Among the agents deemed likely candidates for biological weapons use are the toxins ricin, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), botulinum toxin, and T-2 mycotoxin and the infectious agents responsible for anthrax, brucellosis, cholera, pneumonic plague, tularemia, Q fever, smallpox, glanders, Venezuelan equine

Which are the biological weapons?

Biological weapons are microorganisms like virus, bacteria, fungi, or other toxins that are produced and released deliberately to cause disease and death in humans, animals or plants.

What are the most common types of biological weapons?

There are a huge variety of genetically or traditionally modified bacterias and viruses to withstand antibiotics, that could be used as biological weapons, but some of the most common types today are bacteria, rickettsiae, viruses, toxins, and fungi.

What are chemical and biological weapons?

For example, chemicals used to make nerve agents are also used to make plastics and to process foodstuffs. Biological weapons are infectious or toxic agents (such as bacteria, rickettsia, and viruses) that are derived from natural sources and can cause disease or death.

Who uses biological weapons?

According to US intelligence, South Africa, Israel, Iraq and several other countries have developed or still are developing biological weapons (Zilinskas, 1997; Leitenberg, 2001). Detecting biological warfare research. A comparison of the number of publications from two Russian scientists.

How are biological weapons used?

Sometimes known as “germ warfare,” biological weapons involve the use of toxins or infectious agents that are biological in origin. This can include bacteria, viruses, or fungi. These agents are used to incapacitate or kill humans, animals, or plants as part of a war effort.

Are biological weapons nuclear weapon?

Although biological and nuclear weapons are both considered weapons of mass destruction, biological weapons differ from nuclear weapons in three important ways that undermine the utility of biological weapons for deterrence: uncertainty of effects, availability of defenses, and the need for secrecy and surprise.

What is the deadliest biological weapon?

Bacillus anthracis bacteria, which causes anthrax, is one of the most deadly agents to be used as a biological weapon. It is classified by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a Category A agent, posing a significant risk to national security.

What is an example of a chemical weapon?

Chemical weapons are typically categorized as blister, nerve, choking, blood and riot-control agents, and the effects of these weapons are felt immediately upon inhalation or skin contact. Examples of chemical weapons are mustard gas, sarin, chlorine, hydrogen cyanide and tear gas.

What are the types of chemical weapons?

Types of Chemical Weapon Agents

• Nerve agents (such as sarin, soman, cyclohexylsarin, tabun, VX)
• Vesicating or blistering agents (such as mustards, lewisite)
• Choking agents or lung toxicants (such as chlorine, phosgene, diphosgene)
• Cyanides.
• Incapacitating agents (such as anticholinergic compounds)

What is an example of a chemical agent?

Some examples of chemical agents include phosgene (a choking agent or lung irritant), hydrogen cyanide (a blood gas), dibenzoxazepine (a type of tear gas), and sarin (a type of nerve gas).

What was the first biological weapon?

One of the first recorded uses of biological warfare occurred in 1347, when Mongol forces are reported to have catapulted plague -infested bodies over the walls into the Black Sea port of Caffa (now Feodosiya, Ukraine), at that time a Genoese trade centre in the Crimean Peninsula.

Which countries have used biological weapons?

These include: Iraq, Iran, Libya, China, Russia and North Korea. Although the world knows little about these programs, an American assessment says China has an advanced bioweapons program. It also has an advanced chemical warfare program, that includes development, production and weaponisation capabilities.

Is biological warfare allowed?

Offensive biological warfare is prohibited under customary international humanitarian law and several international treaties. Biological warfare is distinct from warfare involving other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear warfare, chemical warfare, and radiological warfare.