Pania
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posted on September 18, 2001 08:48:26 PM new
As much as the WTC 'bombings' they don't hold a candle to the possibilities of Biological/chemical warfare.
I feel such dread and how can anyone prepare to defend themselves against that?
I am surprised that there wasn't any of it on the planes when they crashed into the WTC.
Anyone else thought about this aspect?
Pania
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gravid
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posted on September 18, 2001 08:54:50 PM new
Stay out of crowds.
Best I can suggest.
Gloves and a mask may become fashionable.
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julie321
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posted on September 19, 2001 06:48:32 AM new
It does indeed make me nervous.
However, many disease causing agents thought to be used in weapons do have vaccines.
Apparently, U.S. military forces are already vaccinated against anthrax. I had read some time ago that the vaccine had only limited availability to civilians who had a higher risk of infection from their work environment, such as veterinarians, lab workers and others who could be exposed to infected animals (or products)I wonder if in the current circumstances that vaccine has been made more widely available.
There are dozens of research papers available on the web about this specific threat.
If you're interested in a rather scary look at the possibilities, have a read of Richard Preston's "The Hot Zone" or "The Cobra Event"
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antiker69
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posted on September 19, 2001 06:52:06 AM new
Actually only a small percentage of the military has been vaccinated against Anthrax. It seems difficult to cultivate the vaccine.
All of the military surplus stores around here have sold out of gas masks.
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pania
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posted on September 19, 2001 07:28:50 AM new
I find it quite revealing that this thread didn't take off. I think we are all scared to death of it because it is so deadly and we have no defense that each individual can take against it.
As for gas masks...apparently you don't know you've breathed the stuff right away..so gas masks won't work.
And to think the boomer generation grew up in fear of a the A bomb...seems there is a new generation that will be growing up with a new fear..
Pania
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gravid
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posted on September 19, 2001 07:33:19 AM new
Very few of us even have air tight enough houses to withstand a aerosol distribution.
If you heard about such an assault in another area and live in a high population density area the only defense would be a vacation in a desolate area. Some where in the West like Idaho or Nevads.
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Pocono
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posted on September 19, 2001 08:36:21 AM new
Sarin is the big problem, not anthrax.
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toke
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posted on September 19, 2001 09:09:59 AM new
My father was a fatalist...largely due to his experience as a pilot in WWII. Basically, his motto was...why worry about things that you cannot change, and are completely out of your control? Deal with what you can affect...then forget it, and go on with life. He said that POV enabled him to get into that cockpit, over and over, without becoming a basket case. He figured "when his number came up" he could be asleep in bed, or in a fighter's path...didn't matter which. That was it..."finito."
I am a natural-born, big time worrier. Suddenly, though, I am finding my father's way easy and right. There is absolutely no way any of us can protect ourselves from every horrific possibility. We can, however, try to make the life we have...liveable. Worked for Dad.
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julie321
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posted on September 19, 2001 09:21:55 AM new
As a chemical agent sarin is frightening.
It isn't persistant though. I think I remember something along the lines of persisting in the air for 1 hour...? I also understood Sarin to be more difficult to produce, needing more sophisticated chemical production methods.
The CDC states that several countries have weapons with the ability to disperse Anthrax spores. Iraq being one of them, in a paper dated July 2000. (edited to add) in a 1979 accident at a Russian biological facility, one case developed 46 days after the initial exposure.
They are both colourless, odorless, and deadly.
[ edited by julie321 on Sep 19, 2001 09:34 AM ]
[ edited by julie321 on Sep 19, 2001 09:36 AM ]
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julie321
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posted on September 19, 2001 09:27:23 AM new
Indeed Toke! A philosophy I believe in. Still, I can't help reading all kinds of paranoia inspiring books..research...articles...etc...
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Pania
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posted on September 19, 2001 06:19:27 PM new
Just an awful thought. We dropped the bomb on Japan...it stopped war cold.
Since we all KNOW germ warfare will be a part of this war...perhaps we should be the first to use it too?
It makes me SICK to think how 'far' our advanced technology has come.
New way to wipe out the human race..again...
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Meya
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posted on September 19, 2001 06:24:30 PM new
Small pox...how many people under the age of 55 or 60 have been vaccinated against Small pox?
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Meya
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posted on September 19, 2001 06:24:30 PM new
Must be my night for double posts.
[ edited by Meya on Sep 19, 2001 06:24 PM ]
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sasoony
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posted on September 19, 2001 07:44:09 PM new
I kept asking myself the same question. Why didn't they use a biological weapon? Then it hit me.
It might have been Bin Laden's organization that carried out the attacks, but it had to be backed by government(s).
A biological attack would have been much more severe and would cripple the U.S. but government(s) know the U.S. would respond with nuclear strikes.
The WTC towers and the Pentagon (and possibly the white house) are symbols of U.S. strength and foreign policy, not targets chosen for maximum damage.
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DeSquirrel
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posted on September 20, 2001 01:07:04 AM new
So you think you just swish a couple of test-tubes and have a bio-weapon?
You need a large scientific/medical organization to develop and produce this stuff. The literacy rate is 30% in Afghanistan.
Then you have the problem of recruiting people to make and or deliver such a weapon. You can get lots of ignorant savages and send them off on suicide missions based on a book they can't read, but someone with the smarts to be in the germ business might say: "You want me to what???"
The third problem is you can detect where such an operation may be located by alarms that go off when certain items are purchased and shipped.
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Microbes
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posted on September 20, 2001 04:15:00 AM new
The third problem is you can detect where such an operation may be located by alarms that go off when certain items are purchased and shipped
You are not thinking like these terrorist's. A few dead and bloated goats in the lake can poison a water supply.
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julie321
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posted on September 20, 2001 10:10:29 AM new
-quote-
You need a large scientific/medical organization to develop and produce this stuff. The literacy rate is 30% in Afghanistan.
-end quote-
I'm not necessarily afraid of Afghanistan. But there are countries who support the Taliban regime, do *not* support the U.S. and do *supposedly* have the technology, money, and motivation to use these kinds of weapons in retaliation to a US attack of this poor, illiterate country.
[ edited by julie321 on Sep 20, 2001 10:11 AM ]
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