Synthetic Bioterrorism?

Synthetic Bioterrorism?

 

  Author: Manisha Samy

As though combatting against biological weapons were not complex enough with various uncertainties and complex roadbloacks, current events depict a new type of terror attacks—synthetic bioterrorism, if you will. Recently, a Texas women was arrested in connection with the mailing of letters containing ricin, a form of poison, to President Obama, NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (Williams). According to NBC News, the letters were discovered during routine mail screening processes. In a separate recent case, a martial arts instructor also sent a ricin-stuffed letter to the President and officials. If gone undetected and ingested or inhaled in quantifiable amounts, ricin can cause death within 36 hours and has no antidote (“Facts About Ricin”).

Ricin, derived from castor beans, is highly toxic and can be in the form of powder, mist, or a pellet (“Facts About Ricin”).  It has much of the same symptoms inhalation anthrax; however, unlike anthrax it has no antidote to combat exposure. Although not a biological compound, this chemical compound has been utilized in a “copycat” fashion of the 2001 anthrax bioterrorism attacks. This leads one to believe that the bioterrorism attack, also delivering death-causing agents through the US Postal Office, inspired the delivery of this chemical compound.

How does one combat and compete against ever-evolving, biological-based chemical terror attacks? Bioterrorism countermeasures and preparedness now have to accelerate and meet the demands of a new era of “synthetic biological weapons.”

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"Facts About Ricin." CDC. Center for Disease Control, 9 May 2013. Web. 6 June 2013. <http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/ricin/facts.asp>.

Williams, Pete. "Texas Woman Arrested in Ricin Letters to Obama, Bloomberg: Officials."NBC News. NBC, 6 June 2013. Web. 6 June 2013.