ASA comments on the Chemical and Biological Terrorism Threats

Since the attacks on the USA, Americans, in particular, and citizens from other countries have added a new dimension to their perception of the threats they face from terrorists. We at ASA cannot keep up with all the news and commentaries that are currently coming across the newswires and address the chemical and biological terrorism threat. However many of the articles and comments we have read are incomplete or misinterpret many of the basic facts about the threat of chemical and biological terrorism. In the interests of providing a more balanced view of the threat and steps individuals, families, and companies can take to offer protection from chemical and biological weapons, ASA has decided to provide the following information, which we hope will give most readers a basic idea of the possibilities of chemical and biological terrorism. The information is simplified and addresses our current understanding of the threat. Since using commercial airlines as missiles to attack the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, many of our ideas of threats may have to be re-evaluated. However, we believe that the information here is reasonably balanced.

ASA welcomes any comments and constructive criticisms of this information. Please send an e-mail to us: info@asanltr.com. The information has been assembled after our more than 20 years in nuclear, biological and chemical defense, along with comments and ideas from various discussion lists including those in emergency management and biosafety. Please check some of the links listed here and also on our "Related Sites" page. The ASA Newsletter website has many of our more important articles up on it. We do have some dead links, especially where we have been organizing and modifying our format. To make information easier to find, we have incorporated a small internal search engine on our main page. Please use this search engine to find specific information.

What are chemical and biological agents?

Which are most likely to be used in a bioterrorist attack?

What is a likely scenario for a chem or bio attack?

What should I do to protect myself and my family?

Should I buy gas masks for my family?

What if terrorists attack with biological weapons?

What about vaccines and antibiotics?

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Terrorism: Some Practical Ideas
by Gary Eifried COL(R), USA, Vice President, EAI Corporation.

What are chemical and biological agents?

The "classic" chemical warfare agents are nerve agents, blistering agents, choking agents and blood agents. These are classified by how they attack the body. These were developed by many countries for military use. Military use means that the chemicals can be delivered by bombs, grenades, missiles, etc., and can be delivered in sufficient quantity to kill, injure and stop opposing troops. If those troops are in complete protective gear of hood, masks, gloves, boots and suits, they can make their way through the attack, but they will not be able to move or fight as effectively as without all that protective gear.

Nerve agents include Sarin (used by Aum Shinryko sect in Tokyo and by Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s), Soman, Tabun (used by Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s), and VX. These have been described in many places and are chemically similar to common insecticides, such as malathion. They are primarily effective by inhaling the gas or aerosol droplets.

Blistering agents include Mustard and Lewisite. Both were used in WWI and mustard was also used by Iraq against Iran in the 1980s war. These attack exposed skin, eyes and respiratory tract and cause blisters (similar to those from poison ivy) to erupt on the skin and other tissues (eyes, throat, etc.). Mustard is a systemic poison and is carcinogenic. They are primarily delivered as gases or liquids dispersed in an aerosol.

Choking agents include phosgene, a very common chemical used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Choking agents would be delivered as gases.

Blood agents include hydrogen cyanide and cyanogens. These again are very common gases used extensively in making plastics and polymers, among other uses. As with choking agents, these would be delivered as gases.

The "classic" biological agents include anthrax, plague, small pox, and tularemia

Anthrax is a bacterium (Baccilus anthracis) that is endemic in many areas of the world and attacks animals such as cattle and sheep. Anthrax can also cause disease in humans by eating meat from diseased animals, from handling the hides and meat of diseased animals, and by inhalation of spores and bacteria from animal hides. Of those three exposure routes, anthrax is least likely under normal conditions to infect humans by inhalation, but when it does, it is often fatal. There have been no cases of anthrax transmitted from one human to another by inhalation. The vaccination against anthrax is a controversial vaccine that appears to have an adverse effect in enough people to be a concern. Anthrax may also be treated with antibiotics.

Plague is a bacteria (Yersinia pestis) that has been with human civilization for centuries. It is thought to be the Black Death that decimated Europe in the Middle Ages. It is transmitted by fleas from rats and other rodents. The fleas act as vectors to carry the disease to other places and to humans. Once infected, the bacteria can be spread from one human to another in the air. Modern hygiene practices can limit the spread both from fleas and by inhalation. The most recent large plague epidemic is believed to have occurred in India during the early 1990s. Once a person has been infected with plague, several antibiotics are used as effective treatments.

Smallpox, a disease caused by a virus, was once very common. Smallpox is characterized by high fevers, often fatal especially to the young, and facial scarring in survivors. Edward Jenner developed a vaccine using cowpox to confer immunity on people who were scratched with needles contaminated with a similar virus from cows. This vaccination led to the development of modern vaccination science and medicine. Smallpox has largely been eradicated through worldwide vaccinations. The last naturally occurring case was in Africa in the 1970s. Most of the world no longer vaccinates either children or adults against smallpox. The vaccine is only effective for about 15 years, so that those of us who were vaccinated against smallpox as children will have only limited protection, but probably enough to keep us from getting seriously ill. Smallpox is contagious when there are visible pustules on the body, so you can use quarantine procedures to limit its spread.  

Tularemia a disease from rickettsia (an organism smaller than bacteria) is commonly passed to human from rodents is endemic in many parts of the world. It has been suggested as a biological weapon because Tularemia was used by the Japanese against China (prior to and during WWII) and, according to Ken Alibeck in his book Biohazard, by the Russians against the Germans in WWII. Antibiotics are effective against tularemia.

Which are most likely to be used in a bioterrorist attack?

A terrorist could attack using the "classical" chemical agents listed above, but the nerve agents and mustard are relatively difficult to make and handle. The Chemical Weapons Convention also makes it difficult to buy these agents or the chemicals needed to make them. However, chemicals such as phosgene and cyanides, which are traded and transported extensively are much easier to obtain. An attack on a chemical plant could effectively release enough toxic industrial chemicals to act as a chemical agent and kill or injure many of the employees or inhabitants of the surrounding communities.

A terrorist using biological agents could use any of the "classical" biological agents because the spread has been studied. The delivery systems for military use are very sophisticated because the intent is to spread a lot of the biological agent quickly and over large areas. Bombs and missiles must be specially designed because the heat from the explosion could kill the bacteria or viruses. A terrorist does not need to release a lot of biological agent to get the desired effect of infection and fear. A terrorist could use any of the diseases that normally occur in a region. This is harder to detect and distinguish from a normal outbreak of the disease and the local populations are likely to have some immunity to it. A terrorist could also release a non-endemic disease, to which the population has no previous immunity. In our opinion, this is more likely to be a terrorist use because it better fits the requirement to produce fear and panic. In that sense smallpox make a very good military biological weapon and terrorist biological weapon because the world's population is no longer protected by vaccinations. However that means a terrorist has to obtain smallpox from one of the two laboratories that house a viral collection of smallpox. But if terrorists have obtained smallpox viruses, it will not be a big problem to produce more. Ebola has been mentioned as a possible bioterrorist agent. However, Ebola is believed to be transmitted only by direct contact with blood or fluids from an infected victim. Although one can imagine scenarios in which Ebola and other viruses are engineered together, this is more difficult to do and is not necessary to create fear and panic.

What is a likely scenario for a chem or bio attack?

Chemical attacks are easier to detect and actually there are many plans in place, although many are partially completed and few are practiced. If you live or work near a chemical plant, you may be familiar with the alarm system a chemical plant must have to alert the surrounding communities. These plants work with local police and firefighters and have usually filed contingency plans identifying the toxic and dangerous chemicals at the plant and their locations. The plans for a chemical attack are similar to those for accidents from chemical plants.

A biological attack will be different. Our detection systems do not identify the bioagents quickly. It may take several days for us to recognize that there was an attack. The incubation time varies with each agent and with the concentration of the agent. We may be aware of it when our doctors and hospital ERs realize that the number of people arriving with some symptoms are much greater than usual. Our doctors and paramedics need to be able to identify diseases that are not familiar to them.

In an attack, if it occurs outside, both the biological and chemical agents will travel with the wind. If the attack is inside a building or ventilation system, or subway, the released agents will go with the airflow from the ventilation system. If you are aware of an attack occurring inside a building or enclosed area, you should exit the building or structure and go upwind. If the attack occurs outside, go into a building to where you can seal the doors and windows.

Over a short time most chemicals and bioagents will be dispersed in the air and diluted to where they do not present a danger. How soon will depend on the wind speed, temperature, humidity and other environmental factors. Water reacts with many chemicals and in many cases the result is a less dangerous chemical. Bleach also reacts with the chemicals and also destroys most bio agents. Sunlight also destroys most bio agents.

What should I do to protect myself and my family?

Several emergency management agencies have described "shelter in place guides," which direct people on the best way to seal their windows and doors. And example for shelters in place is that issues by the National Institute for Chemical Studies.

The Israeli Civil Defense program provides info on creating SAFEROOMS in homes and apartments, using common or easily available household items. These guidelines are on the website for the Israeli shelter program.

If I were doing a sealed room, I would include a room filter that has a HEPA and charcoal filter. These are sold in Sears and many other places. While not perfect they will reduce any build up of chemicals or particulates (including many bios). Most of the CW agents would be adsorbed on to the charcoal.

Should I buy gas masks for my family?

Here is a copy of some information we have assembled from several sources:

We do not recommend buying military gas masks from "Army/Navy Surplus" - type stores for several reasons. Many are "used" in that they have been worn before and probably exercised in them. These may have been resold to such stores. Others may have failed the normal quality control tests for manufacturing or delivery to the military customers. The rubber may not have been properly cared for or may have been defective, resulting in small cracks and openings. The filters, the charcoal canisters, may already have been opened and even used. These filters are designed for only a limited time use and then they must be replaced. The time of use depends on the amount of chemicals in the air and the relative humidity. Also, military gas masks are designed to protect against military chemical agents and some biological agents. Some common industrial chemicals, as well as  some of those chemicals which can be released in explosions and fires, such as those chemicals resulting from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, can pass through the military filters.  Standard industrial chemical masks, such as those made by Mine Safety Appliances, 3M/Racal Safety Products or Dr”ger Safety, Inc., come with a variety of filters. These are adequate for many chemicals. Many chemical weapons are organic chemicals, similar to insecticides. Some of the filters offered with these industrial masks are effective against insecticides and some industrial gases. Other industrial gases, which have been used as chemical weapons or which could be released in an attack on a chemical manufacturing facility , such as a petrochemical plant, include phosgene and chlorine, which require different types of filters.

There are also masks developed for biosafety. These are masks with HEPA filters and can be used when laboratory workers are working with different viruses and bacteria. The carbon filters do not screen out biological agents. Typical HEPA filters are made to filter out down to 0.3 micron in size and trap 99.97% of particulates. Most bacteria and molds are larger than 0.3 microns and will be trapped on the filters. The viruses are smaller, but most would be in aerosol droplets that are larger than 0.3 microns and will be caught by the filters. You will want a HEPA filter that is at least resistant to oil, because some CW agents are delivered in oil based aerosols and CW agents are generally oil soluble. In an emergency situation, if there are ail or fuel based fires, there will be oil based particulates and aerosols.

I would choose a mask that make a good seal against the face. After all, if the filters work down to 0.3 microns, why worry about that if you have 1/8 inch gaps around the nose and chin. This will mean shaving beards.

All of these masks require proper fit tests and training for using them.

The CDC , NIOSH , and the Department of Health and Human Services have descriptions of various respirators and their manufacturers on their website, as well as manuals for how to use them. See for example: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/emres01.html and http://www2.cdc.gov/drds/cel/prior.htm

The section about the respirators used to protect against TB transmission is applicable for against most BW agents.

What if terrorists attack with biological weapons?

Disinfectants such as Lysol spray, bleach and sunlight will destroy most bio agents (anthrax spores are one of the exceptions). Most of the diseases discussed as biological weapons caused a lot of deaths in the days before modern medicine. If someone tries to spread a biological weapon, modern medicine can do a lot to prevent deaths, limit infections and generally quarantine victims. The best thing to do is avoid exposure and practice the same hygiene habits you do to prevent spreading colds and flus - wash your hands frequently, avoid breathing in the same space as the sick person, don't touch your eyes, wash surfaces that someone might have touched, etc.

A terrorist use of BW is likely to be so much less concentrated than a military use, that while it would undoubtedly cause deaths and disease, it still will be designed to create more fear than casualties. Especially for anthrax, which is not thought to be transmissible between humans, the idea that a terrorist would blanket a major city is more of a panic reaction than a more realistic threat. Intentionally spread disease is a more likely scenario. And in that case, it will take us a while to realize that we have been attacked. Those who are first exposed will be more likely to sicken and die. We should be vigilant in monitoring our public health and the sad truth may be that we will watch greater numbers of the old, the young and the immune compromised sicken and die first. But after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, everyone in the USA is more aware of the potential for attacks and we are being more vigilant.

Genetic manipulation to "design" new variants of bacteria and viruses, which are more virulent, are possible. And perhaps terrorists have gotten their hands on this. But a terrorist attack is likely to result in a smaller initial dose than expected for a military attack. Understanding the basics of good personal hygiene and quarantine methods will contain most diseases. Even the Ebola outbreaks in Africa were controlled once basic hygiene and quarantine were put in place. But the hysteria that is cleaning out ciproflaxin and doxycycline from pharmacies, with people planning to take one pill of each, every day for the next two months is also wrong.

We have added a page that gives some of the better articles on BW that have appeared. Articles with good BW information.

What about vaccines and antibiotics?

There are anti-viral drugs that may be effective on viral diseases, such as smallpox. And there are a large number of antibiotics that will be effective against plague, anthrax and other bacterial diseases. Should we have individual stockpiles of these antibiotics? Probably not. There has been an increasing number of bacterial diseases that have developed resistance to current antibiotics because people have used antibiotics indiscriminately. This is a totally separate issue from the bio terrorism threat, but we should not let the threat of a bio attack put our public health arsenal of antibiotics in jeopardy.

In the event of a bio attack, the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile is designed to provide large numbers of antibiotics, as well as vaccines for many diseases. These can be deployed quickly. The stockpile includes Cipro and doxycyline, which have been used to prevent anthrax. For more on the use of antibiotics for biological weapon attack see the following sites: The CDC's bioterrorism site: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/ and http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/questions.html

There are also more links on ASA's links page. "Related Sites"

Look at Red Herring Magazine, and the link http://www.herring.com/index.asp?layout=story&channel=10000001&doc_id=510020251&rh_special_report_id= to "Biotech Boom: the Fog of War" Sept 28, 2001.

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. http://www.apic.org/bioterror/agentsheets.cfm

There are several fact sheets compiled by different chapters on several of BW agents. These are the links for each bioagent.

The links will take you to a download of a Word document one or two pages in length describing the disease for the general public.

anthrax http://www.apic.org/bioterror/sanfranciscobaychapter-anthrax.doc

plague http://www.apic.org/bioterror/sanfranciscobaychapter-plague.doc

smallpox http://www.apic.org/bioterror/sanfranciscobaychapter-smallpox.doc

The Center for Disease Control's bioterrorism page http://www.bt.cdc.gov/ has links to the different BW and CW agents http://www.bt.cdc.gov/Agent/Agentlist.asp Anthrax http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/anthrax_g.htm

plague http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/index.htm

smallpox http://www.bt.cdc.gov/Agent/Smallpox/SmallpoxConsensus.pdf

tularemia http://www.bt.cdc.gov/Agent/Tularemia/TularemiaConsensus.pdf

The latter two links are to pdf files that require Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Back to ASA's main page.

13 October 2001 prepared by Barbara Price, PhD.