Information Related to "Instant Epidemics: The New Breed of Weapons"
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by Scott Ashley
As 1997 drew to a close, an ominous news item went largely unnoticed by most of the world: The U.S. Defense Department announced that it would vaccinate its entire 2.4 million-man force of troops and drilling reservists against anthrax, a devastatingly deadly bacterium being developed as a biological weapon in various nations.
Meanwhile, a heated war of words continued over the standoff in Iraq, with the United States, Britain and other countries ready to attack suspected Iraqi biological- and chemical-weapon production and storage sites.
Why are these weapons a matter of such deep concern?
Such grotesque munitions are not new to late-20th-century military engagements.
The first serious, widespread use of chemical warfare dates back to World
War I. That war was considered so terrible that it was thought that it would-by its
sheer destructiveness and millions of casualties-expunge any future prospects of
war. Tragically, this was not to be.
World War I and chemical weapons
Roger Harris and Jeremy Paxman describe the introduction of chemical warfare in World War I. "The 22nd of April, 1915, had been a warm and sunny day, but towards the end of the afternoon a breeze sprang up. To them (French reservists and Algerians) the fresh wind must have seemed a good omen, for a few seconds later, as if on cue, the German guns-which had been bombarding them all day-suddenly stopped firing.
"An abrupt silence descended over the front. The wind had changed. At five o'clock, three red rockets streaked into the sky, signaling the start of a deafening artillery barrage. At the same time, two greenish-yellow clouds rose from the enemy's lines, caught the wind, and billowed forward, gradually merging to form a single bank of blue-white mist: out of sight, German pioneers were opening the valves of 6,000 cylinders spread out along a four mile front. The cylinders contained liquid chlorine-the instant the pressure was released and it came into contact with the air it vaporized and hissed out to form a dense cloud.
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