What Is Biological Warfare?

Biological warfare is the use of some biological or viral agent or some other natural toxin as a weapon in warfare. Biological warfare is nothing new and as far back as the sixth century BC Assyrians were poisoning the water supplies of their enemies. Hannibal in 184 BC used pots filled with snakes as a kind of biological grenade against enemy sailors. Biological warfare was used in the medieval times as well when plagued corpses of animals were catapulted into enemy fortifications.

In modern times the United States and the Soviet Union both researched heavily in the possibilities of using biological weapons in war, against livestock and agricultural crops as well. Even rouge regimes like Saddam's Iraq were using these weapons with tacit approval from the west. During the United Nations Weapons inspection program large reserves of Anthrax were found in Iraq. It is now rumoured that Israeli scientists are working on biological agents that will target a person based on their genetic make up.

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