Editing Bioterrorism (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of biological warfare|List of bioterrorist incidents}}

By the time [[World War I]] began, attempts to use anthrax were directed at animal populations. This generally proved to be ineffective.

Shortly after the start of World War I, Germany launched a biological sabotage campaign in the United States, Russia, Romania, and France.<ref name="GregoryBWaggDMilitaryMedicine">{{citation|last=Gregory|first=B|author2=Waag, D.|title=Military Medicine: Medical aspects of biological warfare|url=http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/published_volumes/biological_warfare/BW-ch06.pdf|access-date=May 22, 2009|year=1997|publisher=Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army|id=Library of Congress 97-22242|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612003248/http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/published_volumes/biological_warfare/BW-ch06.pdf|archive-date=June 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> At that time, [[Anton Dilger]] lived in Germany, but in 1915 he was sent to the United States carrying cultures of [[glanders]], a virulent disease of horses and mules. Dilger set up a laboratory in his home in [[Chevy Chase, Maryland|Chevy Chase]], Maryland. He used [[stevedore]]s working the docks in Baltimore to infect horses with [[glanders]] while they were waiting to be shipped to Britain. Dilger was under suspicion as being a German agent, but was never arrested. Dilger eventually fled to Madrid, Spain, where he died during the [[1918 flu pandemic|Influenza Pandemic of 1918]].<ref>{{citation|title=Experts Q & A|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weapon/sfeature/qa.html|access-date=May 22, 2009|date=December 15, 2006|publisher=Public Broadcasting Service|archive-date=May 20, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520052542/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weapon/sfeature/qa.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1916, the Russians arrested a German agent with similar intentions. Germany and its allies infected French cavalry horses and many of Russia's mules and horses on the Eastern Front. These actions hindered artillery and troop movements, as well as supply convoys.<ref name="GregoryBWaggDMilitaryMedicine" />
 	
In 1972, police in [[Chicago]] arrested two college students, Allen Schwander and Stephen Pera, who had planned to poison the city's water supply with [[typhoid]] and other bacteria. Schwander had founded a terrorist group, "R.I.S.E.", while Pera collected and grew cultures from the hospital where he worked. The two men fled to [[Cuba]] after being released on bail. Schwander died of natural causes in 1974, while Pera returned to the U.S. in 1975 and was put on probation.<ref>W. Seth Carus, "R.I.S.E.", in ''Toxic Terror: Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons'' (MIT Press, 2000), p.55, p.69</ref>

In 1979, anthrax spores killed around 66 people after the spores were unintentionally released from a military lab near Sverdlovsk, Russia. This occurrence of inhalational anthrax had provided a majority of the knowledge scientists understand about clinical anthrax. Soviet officials and physicians claimed the epidemic was produced by the consumption of infected game meat, but further investigation proves the source of infection were the inhaled spores. There is continued discussion about the intentionality of the epidemic and some speculate it was calculated by the Soviet government.<ref>[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7973702/ M Meselson, J Guillemin, M Hugh-Jones, A Langmuir, I Popova, A Shelokov, et al. The Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak of 1979], PMID 7973702, {{doi|10.1126/science.7973702}}
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In 1980, the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO) announced the eradication of [[smallpox]], a highly contagious and incurable disease. Although the disease has been eliminated in the wild, frozen stocks of smallpox virus are still maintained by the governments of the United States and Russia. Disastrous consequences are feared if rogue politicians or terrorists were to get hold of the smallpox strains.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Smallpox |url=https://www.who.int/teams/health-product-policy-and-standards/standards-and-specifications/vaccine-standardization/smallpox |access-date=June 18, 2022 |website=www.who.int |language=en}}</ref> Since vaccination programs are now terminated, the world population is more susceptible to smallpox than ever before.

In [[Oregon]] in 1984, followers of the [[Rajneesh|Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh]] attempted to control a local [[election]] by [[1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack|incapacitating the local population.]] They infected [[salad]] bars in 10 restaurants, produce in grocery stores, doorknobs, and other public domains with ''[[Salmonella typhimurium]]'' bacteria in the city of [[The Dalles]], [[Oregon]]. The attack infected 751 people with severe [[food poisoning]] and hospitalized 45 of them. There were no fatalities. This incident was the first known bioterrorist attack in the United States in the 20th century.<ref>Carus, W. Seth [https://web.archive.org/web/20110616062822/http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/carusBiocrimes.pdf Working Paper: Bioterrorism and Biocrimes. The Illicit Use of Biological Agents Since 1900], Feb 2001 revision. (Final published version: {{cite book|date=2002|title=Working Paper: Bioterrorism and Biocrimes. The Illicit Use of Biological Agents Since 1900|isbn=9781410100238|oclc=51843844|edition=8th|last1=Seth Carus|first1=W.|publisher=The Minerva Group }}</ref> It was also the single largest bioterrorism attack on U.S. soil.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/11/the-largest-bioterrorism-attack-in-us-history-was-an-attempt-to-swing-an-election/|title=The Largest Bioterrorism Attack In US History Was An Attempt To Swing An Election|last=Novak|first=Matt|date=November 3, 2016|work=Gizmodo|access-date=December 2, 2016|archive-date=January 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129070310/https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/11/the-largest-bioterrorism-attack-in-us-history-was-an-attempt-to-swing-an-election/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 	
In June 1993, the religious group [[Aum Shinrikyo]] released anthrax in Tokyo. Eyewitnesses reported a foul odor. The attack was a failure, because it did not infect a single person. The reason for this is due to the fact that the group used the vaccine strain of the bacterium. The spores which were recovered from the site of the attack showed that they were identical to an anthrax vaccine strain that was given to animals at the time. These vaccine strains are missing the genes that cause a symptomatic response.<ref name="cdc.gov">{{Cite web |url=http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/1/03-0238_article |title=CDC-'''Bacillus anthracis''' Incident, Kameido, Tokyo, 1993 |access-date=October 6, 2016 |archive-date=February 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202195811/https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/1/03-0238_article |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In September and October 2001, several [[2001 anthrax attacks|cases of anthrax]] broke out in the United States, apparently deliberately caused. Letters laced with infectious anthrax were concurrently delivered to news media offices and the U.S. Congress. The letters killed five people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/06/anthrax.case/index.html|title=U.S. officials declare researcher is anthrax killer - CNN.com|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref>