Posted on 01/05/2009 4:03:08 PM PST by traumer
Terrorists would find it "relatively easy" to launch a devastating attack using swarms of insects to spread a deadly disease, an academic has warned.
Jeffrey Lockwood, professor of entomology at Wyoming University and author of Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War, said such Rift Valley Fever or other diseases could be transported into a country by a terrorist with a suitcase.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think a small terrorist cell could very easily develop an insect-based weapon."
He said it would "probably be much easier" than developing a nuclear or chemical weapon, arguing: "The raw material is in the back yard."
He continued: "It would be a relatively easy and simple process.
"A few hundred dollars and a plane ticket and you could have a pretty good stab at it."
Governments, he advised, needed to have robust "pest management infrastructure that's able to absorb and respond to an introduction" of infected insects, he said.
Trying to stop everything coming in at the border would not work, he said.
Rift Valley Fever is an east African disease which "can cause severe disease in both animals and humans, leading to high rates of disease and death" according to the World Health Organisation.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Didn’t they make an x-files movie about this? (I think it was bees that were the weapons.)
Insect-vector. A real "buzzword."
haha.
Terrorists are smart enough to read western media and to watch western news media and this Professor of Entomology is DUMB enough to put it out there for all the world to see.
Some things require some technical expertise but this seems simple to me; am I missing something here? Who're the dumb ones and who're the smart ones?
They have been feeding on Marine recruits for decades and are fit for the fight!
Make that “Parris Island”
Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Well, our insects are tougher than your insects. Unfortunately most of our most disgusting insects have been elected to congress.
Solution: DDT
It’s worth noting that this type of “biological weapon” would likely be highly ineffective for a number of reasons — not the least of which is the fact that healthy white Americans would be among those least affected by them.
Wonder what the dems will do if the terrorists use a bug on the endangered species list.
12 MONKEYS
If it’s feasible Hollywood probably made a movie about it already....
12 MONKEYS
If it’s feasible Hollywood probably made a movie about it already....
This is nothing new. The Japanese in WWII were harvesting bubonic plague to spread by flea in clay pots (with balloons) to attack America’s Western coast.
Look up Camp 731 (I think).
Paris Hilton may have already been exposed to all of the nasty bugs you could ever think of.
“Department of Pest Management”
Cool, will they have their own SWAT team?
He must be aiming for a grant.
That should account for 100,000 of those new employees.
Department of Orkin... “Dorkin” for short!
THAT exactly was the plot of “24” show tonight!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.