Beware of leaked biological agents

THE world has been through many wars. In the early period of human existence, the fights were mainly about territorial expansion. Most came from tribal conflicts. There was at one time the sugar war in the Caribbean. Sugar, a precious commodity then, created massive wealth for many.

There was also a war over spice trade. Of course, we are all familiar with the many wars fought over the control of oil reserves. Some predict it will not be long before wars are fought over water, a resource which is showing signs of depletion. The Nile and the Mekong are cited as potential hotspots for such conflicts. The recent US-China tariff war is an example of a conflict which has arisen from trade frictions.

Not all wars end with bloodsheds. The trade war is one example. The war over the ownership of water resources has so far not led to killing. But, most of the other wars involved the use of some kind of lethal weapons. The design of weapons has also witnessed change. They have become more sophisticated.

During the time of the Roman Empire, the weapons were mainly made up of arrows and swords. They were not capable of mass destruction of the enemy. The use of the early weapons was also very much dependent on the skill of the individual combatant. As the world became familiar with new technologies of fire power and precision targeting, the killing weapons became more devastating.

The so-called weapon of mass destruction was born. There have been many types deployed. The common ones are the precision bombing which uses sophisticated electronics to reach targets. Such weapon has been deployed extensively in the many conflicts in the Middle East.

Chemical-based weapons have also been developed and deployed on a number of occasions in the past. They are more destructive than the conventional weapons. But their deployment can be stopped by destroying the facilities suspected to be making such weapons. Nuclear weapon is another with the potential to create mass destruction. In the world, not many countries possess the capacity to produce such weapon. There is a global treaty to control the proliferation of nuclear weapon.

This is because the impact of such weapon is not only widespread but can be instantly fatal. This was clearly demonstrated in the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima which literally ended the second World War. Nowadays, no country would dare attack another country which has nuclear weapon, which in a way is a deterrent to wars.

Lately, with the global pandemic brought about by Covid-19, the world has become understandably worried by another weapon which has the potential for mass destruction. This is the weapon which relies on fatally dangerous biological agents. This biological weapon makes use of the almost invisible microbes which cannot be seen with the naked eye.

These can include the viruses, bacteria and other disease-causing microbes which are not only fatal for the enemy but also have the capacity to disrupt and destroy living. As demonstrated in the Covid-19 pandemic, such viruses can even derail world economies. Once the economy is disrupted, the world simply loses the means to effectively fight the virus.

This makes biological weapons much scarier than the others. The spread can be through unsuspecting persons carrying the infectious virus. It is much more difficult to detect until it is too late. It is not easy to stop countries from creating the laboratories to develop such weapons.

Normally, parallel to the weapon development, it is also a practice in such laboratories to develop the antidotes to neutralise the pathogens. The concern is accidental leakages. Despite the often-stringent safety control on the biological agents, sometimes accidents can happen.

The leaked pathogens can be disastrous for the community. We can already see how Covid-19, which does not come from such laboratories, is already wreaking havoc throughout the world. It would be much worse if the pathogens released are those meant to be weapons.

The world must agree on a proper internationally agreed monitoring of such facilities. There must be transparent reporting. Otherwise, the prospects of dealing with a potential leakage are scary.


The writer is Fellow, Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UCSI University

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