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| Threat of bio-terrorism India must take necessary measures | | | P. R. Chari | 11/17/2011 9:48:12 PM |
| WHETHER the threat of bio-terrorism is real becomes germane with a plot discovered recently in Georgia within the United States to use ricin as a bioterrorism agent. Ricin can be extracted from castor beans, and is deadly even in trace quantities. There is no known cure. The plot came to light with the arrest by the federal authorities of four men following a sting operation. Apparently, they had wanted to buy explosive materials and arms components in Georgia to attack government facilities and kill local law enforcement officials by dispersing ricin-using explosives.
Another plan was to release the ricin in US metropolitan centres from a car driven on their road. What was their objective? Unreal and fanciful as it might seem, they wished to weaken the state and the federal government to "make the country right again." Such ravings cannot be dismissed as inconsequential, considering the damage and panic that would ensue in the general population if such plots came to fruition. Neither can US actions be termed paranoid since they are being targeted by terrorist organisations across the world. Several secular state and non-state actors are known to be interested in acquiring biological weapons. So are many religious extremist and millenarian organisations with apocalyptic visions of destroying the world and molding it anew in their vision. Bio-terrorist attacks are considered permissible by these organisations, even moral. Several examples can be recalled. For instance, the Aum Shinrikyo had released sarin gas (a nerve agent) in a subway train in Tokyo, which affected thousands of commuters and left 12 dead in 1995. They had dispersed chemical and biological agents earlier from moving vehicles and atop tall buildings, but fortunately without success. Before that, in 1984, followers of Acharya Rajneesh had infected salad bars in Oregon with salmonella, resulting in several customers falling ill, but fortunately no deaths.
The anthrax attacks in the US soon after 9/11 are firmly etched in American collective memory and have strengthened their beliefs that terrorist organisations like Al-Qaida have an abiding interest in developing biological agents for mass destruction. Indeed, a recent news story in The New York Times informed that Al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula is accumulating castor beans to make ricin and cause mass casualties. Is this picture overdrawn? Is the bio-terrorist threat quite exaggerated? Atypical of the hype surrounding ricin is a media report claiming: "The US government also learned that Awlaki sought to use poisons, including cyanide and ricin, to attack Westerners' citing a "senior US official". Anwar Al-Awlaki has been killed; so this assertion cannot be either confirmed or denied.
However, the contrarian argument should also be taken note of. The technical problem with using ricin as a bio-agent is that it is a macro-molecular protein, which is sensitive to heat, many solvents and removal from its natural environment. Therefore, reports that it can be packed around explosives and detonated are just plain wrong. Ricin bombs have yet to be made and demonstrated. Besides, ricin, like other proteins, cannot be absorbed through the skin like nerve agents. It can be used in an aerosol directed against individual targets, but only after purification, which is a highly complex process. Ricin is not easy, in short, to weaponise for extensive use. The same is true of anthrax, which needs to be manufactured to a particular granular size to enter the respiratory tract. To date, only the Fort Detrick defence lab in Maryland is known to have achieved this. The technical problem with bio-terrorism agents, therefore, lies not only in their production, but also in maintaining their coherence until delivery, which is very difficult for a terrorist organisation.
Is the bio-terrorism threat, therefore, chimerical and greatly over-stated? The dilemma before the national security agencies is that maverick organisations and individuals are a reality, and prudent governments have to defend themselves against existential and potential threats.
How is India positioned to meet bio-terrorist threats? The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) recognises this range of threats, and has issued guidelines for managing bio-terrorist attacks which address the prevention, preparedness, and countering of major epidemics and pandemics. An Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) is designed to undertake immunisation programmes, and ensure preparedness by creating bio-safety laboratories across the country.
Agro-terrorism is also addressed, but the precise counter-measures taken to mitigate a bio-terrorist attack are not clear. India's dense population, poor health surveillance and medical organisations, long history of suffering cross-border terrorist attacks, and hostile neighbours makes India highly vulnerable to bio-terrorist attacks. An unusual outbreak of plague, for instance, had occurred in Surat (1995), which was never properly identified and remains a mystery. But it had caused great panic and led to wholesale exodus of migrant labour that brought Gujarat's flourishing diamond industry to its knees. In truth, the bioterrorist threat to India emanates not only from its hostile neighbouring countries but also from non-state actors supported by these States. Al- Qaida, for instance, is known to have an active interest in biological weapons. A bioterrorist attack on India's agriculture and animal husbandry, which is not being given any priority at present, could have a serious impact on its large agricultural economy. A holistic programme is needed, therefore, to deal with the several dimensions of the bio-terrorism threat, which requires urgent attention of the relevant intelligence agencies and the health authorities. At the operational level, arrangements have to be made to ensure surveillance, detection and prompt reporting. Since the possibility cannot be excluded of a bio-terrorist attack succeeding, despite all the precautions taken, it is also necessary that arrangements were made for evacuating and treating the victims. These measures have sizeable budgetary implications. Fortunately, they also have public health spin-offs; hence, raising the standards of public health in these areas should not be begrudged by an enlightened state.Bio-terrorism has been designated as a low probability, but high consequence event. Viewed in this perspective, precautionary steps are necessary, and the American reaction to the ricin plot discovered in Georgia is entirely explicable. |
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