Scientists: Bioweapons are a Global Threat

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Bio weapons are a threat to Israel and efforts are being done to have the capability to identify them and counter them. These efforts are classified but in recent years they are more in focus.

The problem is shared by many countries around the world, and experts say that international cooperation is vital to minimize the threat. Carefully targeted biological weapons could be as dangerous as nuclear weapons.

According to Stanford School of Medicine, more national focus is needed on the risk of bioterrorism. Steven Block, Ph.D, professor of biological sciences and of applied physics at Stanford, meets with a scientific advisory group several times a year to report to the federal government on national security issues, including bioterrorism. “The advent of modern molecular genetic technologies is making it increasingly feasible to engineer bioweapons,” said Block. “It’s making people with even moderate skills able to create threats they couldn’t before.”

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

According to Homeland Security News Wire some natural bioweapons, like the anthrax strain mailed to public officials in late 2001, are treatable, but the technology for making drug-resistant anthrax or other “designer diseases” is becoming increasing available, cheaper, and more sophisticated. “We are undergoing a biotechnology revolution,” one expert said. “Even in the last ten years, science has advanced so much that you can engineer some of the scariest organisms — for example, smallpox.”