Next generation bioweapons: genetic engineering and bw

Next Generation Bioweapons:Genetic Engineering and BW14US Air Force Counterproliferation CenterFuture Warfare SeriesNo. 14Michael J. Ainscough 253 CHAPTER 9 Next Generation Bioweapons: Genetic Engineering and BW Michael J. Ainscough Introduction The history of warfare and the history of disease are unquestionably interwoven. Throughout the history of warfare, disease and non-battle injury have accounted for more deaths and loss of combat capability than from actual battle in war itself. The most striking example is the great influenza pandemic during World War I that killed 20 million people or more worldwide in 1918.1 Although this was a naturally occurring event, what if a country could create a biological agent that could yield the same catastrophic loss of life on the enemy? That, in essence, is the potential effect of applying genetic engineering2 for biological warfare (BW) or bioterrorism (BT). Today, we face not only natural diseases (including emerging infectious diseases), bu...