The Associated Press reports that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is making botulinum toxin its highest priority, as the NIH is concerned that a terrorist could easily infect the nation’s food supply with the toxin.
In the hands of a bioterrorist, according to the AP, “a single gram — the weight of a paper clip — could kill more than 1 million people. Federal officials fear the nation is both vulnerable to such an attack and ill prepared should one occur.”
The NIH says that the federal government only has enough antitoxin to treat a small outbreak, and that United Nations inspectors believe that Saddam Hussein could have enough to kill the entire human population three times over.
Such an attack could bring the country to its knees, according to government experts.
In the hands of a bioterrorist, according to the AP, “a single gram — the weight of a paper clip — could kill more than 1 million people. Federal officials fear the nation is both vulnerable to such an attack and ill prepared should one occur.”
The NIH says that the federal government only has enough antitoxin to treat a small outbreak, and that United Nations inspectors believe that Saddam Hussein could have enough to kill the entire human population three times over.
Such an attack could bring the country to its knees, according to government experts.
- KC's View:
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We don’t want to get political on this, so we’ll just point out what analysts on both side of the political aisle seem to be saying -- that the armed forces currently occupying and fighting in Iraq better find this stuff. Not that we want Iraq to have it, but it would end the most of the debate about whether or not we should be there.
This botulinum toxin stuff is very scary.
