Here's another reason to be afraid. /whistles softly


Terrorists could use 'insect-based' biological weapon
Terrorists would find it "relatively easy" to launch a devastating attack using swarms of insects to spread a deadly disease, an academic has warned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/4123782/Terrorists-could-use-insect-based-biological-weapon.html

Jeffrey Lockwood, professor of entomology at Wyoming University and author of Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War, said such Rift Valley Fever or other diseases could be transported into a country by a terrorist with a suitcase.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think a small terrorist cell could very easily develop an insect-based weapon."

He said it would "probably be much easier" than developing a nuclear or chemical weapon, arguing: "The raw material is in the back yard."

He continued: "It would be a relatively easy and simple process.

"A few hundred dollars and a plane ticket and you could have a pretty good stab at it."

Governments, he advised, needed to have robust "pest management infrastructure that's able to absorb and respond to an introduction" of infected insects, he said.

Trying to stop everything coming in at the border would not work, he said.

Rift Valley Fever is an east African disease which "can cause severe disease in both animals and humans, leading to high rates of disease and death" according to the World Health Organisation.

However, WHO says that "the vast majority of human infections result from direct or indirect contact with the blood or organs of infected animals."

After reading your post...it reminded me of the old question that was so popular at the outset of the AIDS thing.

My question(and millions of others)was, couldn't you contract AIDS, if a mosquito bit someone with AIDS, and then bit you(as in breaking the skin in the bite)? There would be the body fluid from the 1st person, transferred(possibly) to the 2nd person.

So, wouldn't that be a form of "insect war-fare"?

What do you think?

I already hate bugs.

Skeeters already give us West Nile Virus.

Super Bug! Let's all play "Nuclear War"!



http://www.canosoarus.com/06NWgame/NW01.htm

Well I am going to make the assumption that Jeffrey Lockwood, professor of entomology at Wyoming University knows a great deal more about the science behind his claims than I do.

Do I think something like this is likely? No I do not.

I have a good friend who works in the petroleum industry. Over the years we've frequently chatted about what someone might do if they wished to disrupt the distribution of product on a large scale to create an economic impact.

The state of the world and the homeland security efforts here in the US prompted these what if conversations. The what if's are countless.

The fact is, according to him and some of his professional associates, it would not be hard to assault the petroleum distribution system at several points that are not guarded at all and cause a massive delay in product distribution that would result in an economic impact that would surely be negative.

Remember, besides killing innocent people the 9/11 bombers did something else. The economic impact of their terrorist acts were profound and still linger.

My point is, there are countless avenues for a terrorist to follow that could kill people or if not cripple, disrupt essential services and negatively impact the economy and the lives of Americans.

If we spent all our time worrying about all these possibilities and if we surrender all our freedoms to guard against these potential attacks we are still not completely safe from them. There are simply too many avenues of attack.

My thread titled "Be Afraid" was intended to really be much more about the era of fear we now find ourselves living in than about bugs being used as weapons.

Super Bug! Let's all play "Nuclear War"!

http://www.canosoarus.com/06NWgame/NW05.htm

http://www.canosoarus.com/06NWgame/NW01.htm



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------^ Super Bug!