Biological weapons: No NIH ban

Living Weapons: Biological Weapons and International Security

In the summer of 1996, as a (much younger) Army infectious disease physician, I headed off to a new assignment with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland. It was a heady time to be entering the niche fi eld of biodefense. Five years before the events of 9/11 and the subsequent “Amerithrax” attacks would become an integral part of the ...

Confronting Biological Weapons

The New World was ravaged by smallpox for several centuries after the Spanish conquest. Jenner’s discovery of the smallpox vaccine made possible the prevention and control of smallpox epidemics. In response to a large outbreak of smallpox in the Spanish colonies, King Charles IV appointed Francisco Xavier de Balmis to lead an expedition that would introduce Jenner’s vaccine to these colonies. D...

Potential biological weapons threats.

The list of agents that could pose the greatest public health risk in the event of a bioterrorist attack is short. However, although short, the list includes agents that, if acquired and properly disseminated, could cause a difficult public health challenge in terms of our ability to limit the numbers of casualties and control the damage to our cities and nation. The use of biological weapons h...

Subtle Biological Weapons

Multilateral Ban on Nuclear Weapons: Lessons from the Cwc

Dr. Jonathan B. Tucker directs the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies. Prior to this appointment, he worked on chemical and biological weapons issues at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and on the staff of the Presidential ...