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Bioterrorism
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==Definition== {| class="sortable wikitable" |+ |- ! Definition !! Source |- | ''"Bioterrorism is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents to cause illness or death in people, animals or plants."'' || [[Interpol]]<ref name=interpol/> |- | ''"A biological attack, or bioterrorism, is the intentional release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs that can sicken or kill people, livestock, or crops."'' || [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]]<ref name=cdc>{{cite web|title=Bioterrorism {{!}} Anthrax {{!}} CDC|url=https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/bioterrorism/index.html|website=www.cdc.gov|access-date=October 25, 2017|language=en-us}}</ref> |- | ''"Violent action using living matter, such as bacteria, to harm or kill people for political reasons"'' || [[Cambridge Dictionary]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Bioterrorism |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/bioterrorism |website=Cambridge dictionary |access-date=12 March 2024}}</ref> |} Bioterrorism agents are typically found in nature, but could be mutated or altered to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment. Biological agents can be spread through the air, water, or in food. Biological agents are attractive to [[Terrorism|terrorists]] because they are extremely difficult to detect and do not cause illness for several hours to several days. Some bioterrorism agents, like the [[smallpox virus]], can be spread from person to person and some, like [[anthrax]], cannot.<ref name="CDCBioterrorismOverview">{{cite web|title=Bioterrorism Overview|url=http://www.bt.cdc.gov/bioterrorism/overview.asp|access-date=May 22, 2009|date=February 12, 2008|publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184927/http://www.bt.cdc.gov/bioterrorism/overview.asp|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref><ref>Preston, Richard (2002). ''The Demon in the Freezer'', Ballantine Books, New York. {{ISBN|9780345466631}}.</ref> Bioterrorism may be favored because biological agents are relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain, can be easily disseminated, and can cause widespread fear and panic beyond the actual physical damage.<ref>Advantages of Biologics as Weapons Bioterrorism: A Threat to National Security or Public Health Defining Issue? MM&I 554 University of Wisconsin–Madison and Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, September 30, 2008.</ref> Military leaders, however, have learned that, as a military asset, bioterrorism has some important limitations; it is difficult to use a bioweapon in a way that only affects the enemy and not friendly forces. A biological weapon is useful to terrorists mainly as a method of creating mass panic and disruption to a state or a country. However, technologists such as [[Bill Joy]] have warned of the potential power which genetic engineering might place in the hands of future bio-terrorists.<ref>{{citation|last=Joy|first=Bill|title=Why the Future Doesn't Need Us: How 21st Century Technologies Threaten to Make Humans an Endangered Species|date=March 31, 2007|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-553-52835-0|title-link=Why the Future Doesn't Need Us}}</ref> The use of agents that do not cause harm to humans, but disrupt the economy, have also been discussed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.agpolicy.org/weekpdf/116.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.agpolicy.org/weekpdf/116.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Bioterrorism - the high economic costs of an attack|date=October 2002}}</ref> One such pathogen is the [[foot-and-mouth disease]] (FMD) virus, which is capable of causing widespread economic damage and public concern (as witnessed in the [[2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak|2001]] and [[2007 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak|2007]] FMD outbreaks in the UK), while having almost no capacity to infect humans.
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