The Pros And Cons Of Biological Warfare

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Recommended: Definition of Biological Warfare

Biological warfare is defined as, “the utilization of infectious agents and biological toxins including fungi, viruses, and bacteria in killing, incapacitating or causing injuries to plants, animals and humans as acts of war” (HRF). Biological weapons are a technological advancement that can be utilized to win wars, but the unpredictability of controlling the weapon has unforeseen side effects that cause ethical issues to arise. Even though I think having the ability to genetically alter biological organisms is a step towards improving human life, the employment of the same biological organisms in warfare is an unethical and immoral use of scientific advancement. The history behind biological warfare has been around longer than most people …show more content…

The three phases are the anticipation phase, the realism phase, and the psychiatric phase. The anticipation phase is what happens when a community encounters fear, anxiety and a low level of panic after an infection was let loose. This phase represents the vulnerability of the situation and how it can spiral out of control if the epidemic becomes critical. “Biological agents stimulate terror in the affected population because they cause injury and death in strange and prolonged ways” (Radosavljevic and Jakovlijevic 550). After the first phase the realism kicks in and people come to realize that they can easily be contaminated by the infection. After the medical workers are summoned and start treating the infection they become unresponsive to patients because they do not wish to become infected themselves. This leads to the final phase and to the aftermath of the biological attack. The psychiatric phase is when the community is recovering from illness, panic, and grief causing the most vulnerability. “The invisibility of biological agents, the possibility that the agent can be spread by personal contact, the uncertainty of the extent of dangerousness of biological weapons” (Radosavljevic and Jakovlijevic 551) are reactions that are be based off of the distress of people. All of these phases lead to the force of what a biological attack could do to a community and a country by a simple pathogen being

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