The Pros And Cons Of Biological Warfare

In the novel Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, a teenage girl Kady is caught in the middle of an intergalactic war, and one of the challenges she must face on the refugee ship she is now living on is a plague intentionally spread by the enemy megacorporation. This plague, known as Phobos Alpha, soon mutates into a much more deadly Phobos Beta. Eventually, Kady is left to fend for herself against refugees driven insane by disease.

By forcing Kady to make many difficult decisions and limiting her allies, this plague shapes the plot of the novel. This means that as readers, we may be wondering: what is biological warfare, and how does it apply to us? Understanding the topic of biological warfare is very important, so this paper looks at the advantages and disadvantages of, history of, and defense against biological warfare.

Advantages and Disadvantages

For the perpetrators of an attack, biological agents can have great advantages over typical instruments of war. Like any weapon, however,

For one thing, they can last a very long time, continuing to spread throughout the target. Bullets can only be shot once, and bombs are finished after exploding, but biological agents multiply and continue to do so until a vaccine or other treatment is found. With some organisms, an epidemic could stem from just a few particles (Pytlak). A example of an extremely deadly toxin is Botulinum; a gram of it could kill over a million people if inhaled. Marburg virus, possibly even more dangerous, is a member of the filovirus family, which includes Ebola. It is a Category A bio-warfare agent according to the CDC’s classification system, which means it is among the most deadly bioweapons yet classified (Most Dangerous). Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State, claims that “The risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest threat we