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Glasgow conference addresses biological war threat to Europe

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, September 7, 2001

LONDON Ñ Biological weapons could be the wave of the future in any military or terrorist offensive against Europe.

Scientists at a conference in Glasgow are warning that Europe must plan to counter a biological weapons attack. They said that so far neither the European Union nor individual states had invested little in combating such an attack.

"There are those who say the First World War was chemical, the Second World War was nuclear, and that the third world war, Ñ God forbid, Ñ will be biological," Sir William Stewart, a former government adviser and president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, said.

The scientists pointed to Europe's vulnerability to such diseases as the foot-and-mouth epidemic as evidence that microbes could do untold damage. At least 30 conventional microbes are listed as potential biological warfare agents.

The scientists at the weeklong conference warned that biological weapons could be the target of rogue states that can't afford missiles and nuclear bombs. Iraq was identified as focusing on development of biological weapons and has stockpiled Anthrax. Iran has also been advancing its biological weapons program.

"If nuclear weapons and space technology dominate the global defense thinking, what is left for the smaller and rogue nations without them?" Sir William asked. "Are we naive enough to believe that the recent advances in microbiology and genomic biology will be restricted to the civil field?"

In Washington, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency is studying the feasibility of developing a new modified strain of anthrax. The effort is meant to determine the threat to the U.S. troops and civilians amid a Russian effort to develop a new strain of anthrax.

"This administration has made clear: one of its priorities is to work against the threat of biological warfare," Assistant Secretary of Defense Victoria Clarke said. "We've said pretty consistently that we're very concerned about the threat of offensive biological weapons Ñ of the proliferation of materials and technology that could enhance the proliferation of chemical and biological warfare."

The Pentagon has determined that a biological weapons terrorist attack is the greatest threat to the United States.

Friday, September 7, 2001



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