1. Biological Warfare -How biology involved in human conflict-

2. Biological Warfare Biological warfare is the intentional use of microorganisms, and toxins to produce disease and death in humans, livestock and crops. Biological weapons are defined as: 1.Microorganisms 2.Biologically Derived Bioactive Substances (BDBS) 3.Artificially Designed Biological-Mimicking Substances

3. Types of biological agents Categorised according to mortality rate. Category A agents - Anthrax, Botulin, Smallpox, Ebola, Plague, Tularemia, Marburg etc. Category B agents - Q fever, Brucellosis, Typhus, Ricin etc. Category C agents - Nipah virus, Hantavirus, Multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis etc.

4. History of Biological Warfare The use of biological agents is not new, but before the 20th century, biological warfare took three main forms: 1.Deliberate poisoning of food and water with infectious material 2.Use of microorganisms, toxins or animals, living or dead, in a weapon system 3.Use of biologically inoculated fabrics

5. Why biological weapons? Cheap and easy to manufacture. Biological weapons cause fear and chaos among people as anyone could be affected by it. Large quantities of biological weapons can, in most cases, be produced in a short period A single microbial biological weapon can, because it reproduces in the host, theoretically produce the desired detrimental outcome in a target host.

6. Why not biological weapons? Difficulty in maintaining quality control and sufficient containment during growth and harvesting of agents. Effective delivery problems. Poor storage survival. Difficult to control once released. Difficulty of protecting the workers.

7. Human Experiments There are number of human experiments carried out associated with biological weapon testing during World War 2. Such as Unit 731 in Japanese army, German army At the Auschwitz concentration camp and Operation White coat by US army.

8. Banning Biological weapons Geneva Protocol -Use of biological weapons was banned in international law by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention -The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention extended the ban to almost all production, storage and transport of any types of biological weapons.

9. Bio-terrorism There are number of bio-terrorism recently. 1984 Rajneeshee salmonella attack -attempted to control a local election by infecting salad bars in 10 restaurants with Salmonella typhimurium in the small town of Oregon. 2001 anthrax attack -Envelopes containing Anthrax spores was send deliberately to newspaper companies and US senators. and cause 5 Fatalities in 17 infections.

10. Summary Biological warfare is the intentional use of microorganisms, and toxins to human or live stocks. It is cheap and easy way to manufacture the weapon, but also very unstable and ineffective. Development of the biological weapon involves inhuman experiments. Use or production of biological weapon is currently banned by Geneva convention and Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Increasing number of bioterrorism incidences are problem.