Civilian Relief after Release of Weapons of Mass Destruction
by Jack Woodall*

*Leader of the World Health Organization's delegation to the Biological Weapons Convention 3rd Review Conference; currently Director, Nucleus for Investigating Emerging Infectious Diseases, Dept. Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

          One of the Moscow theater hostages was a US citizen, who was hospitalized. US embassy officials trying to arrange his treatment were frustrated because the Russian authorities would not disclose the name of the gas used. The same problem on a much larger scale will face humanitarian agencies responding to the civilian crisis if weapons of mass destruction are used in the Gulf area, or if stocks of them are destroyed by sabotage or aerial or ground bombardment.
          In either case there is likely to be a messy outcome in which a horrendous mix of chemicals (gases) and biologicals is released, possibly with the addition of radiation from 'dirty' bombs, perhaps affecting thousands of civilians in addition to military.
          The military can be expected to take care of their own, but may well find themselves unable to cope with a mass of civilian casualties. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent will be anxious to help, but will be extremely concerned about sending their personnel on what might be a fatal mission into a contaminated area.
          In 1990, shortly before the Gulf War began, this problem was addressed by Swiss Disaster Relief (SDR) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). SDR has extensive experience in taking relief to disaster areas worldwide. The standard configuration of SDR comprises physicians, public health specialists, veterinarians, specialists in nuclear and chemical weapons and explosives, together with backup staff for decontamination, communications and logistics. The SDR group, 20 strong, had access to a MD-80 airbus and, when on maximum alert, could take off for anywhere in the world at 24 hours notice. To upgrade SDR for dealing with biological weapons, specialists in anthrax, botulinum toxin and hemorrhagic fever viruses were recruited, together with appropriate portable detection equipment. Team members were vaccinated against (among many other diseases endemic to the Middle East) smallpox, anthrax and tularemia, and assured of a supply of botulin antiserum. It later transpired that the team was more fully vaccinated than the coalition forces. They trained together in personal protective suits.
          The resulting group was christened Task Force 'Scorpio'. Its mission -- as a neutral, internationally acceptable team -- was to fly immediately to wherever weapons of mass destruction might have been used and have affected the civilian population, measure the level of contamination, and tell humanitarian organizations what the contamination was caused by and when it would be safe to send in relief. The Secretary-General of the United Nations was the authority that would have dispatched 'Scorpio'. Fortunately, the task force's services were never needed and after the war 'Scorpio' was disbanded.
           Recently (January 2003), WHO has approached the Swiss government to reactivate 'Scorpio'. Renamed the Swiss/European WMD Task Force, it will include experts from the crack Polish chemical weapons detection and Biological Recognition Teams (BRT). It is hoped that there may still be time to get it ready to meet the potentially dire need of civilians in the Gulf region or elsewhere.

Ed. Note: Jack's illustrious career, from Director NY State Health Department's Arbovirus Laboratory to 13 years with WHO to the above, is well known to all professionals. He is a CBMTS member, will be at CBMTS-Industry III "Second World Congress on CBR Terrorism" in Dubrovnik from 6-12 September 2003, and with Richard Price and Sergey Netesov, he is co-author of the GIAAS.