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Home Front: Tech

US army plans to bulk-buy anthrax

2005-09-26

THE US military wants to buy large quantities of anthrax, in a controversial move that is likely to raise questions over its commitment to treaties designed to limit the spread of biological weapons. A series of contracts have been uncovered that relate to the US army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. They ask companies to tender for the production of bulk quantities of a non-virulent strain of anthrax, and for equipment to produce significant volumes of other biological agents. Issued earlier this year, the contracts were discovered by Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, a US-German organisation that campaigns against the use of biological and chemical weapons.

One "biological services" contract specifies: "The company must have the ability and be willing to grow Bacillus anthracis Sterne strain at 1500-litre quantities." Other contracts are for fermentation equipment for producing 3000-litre batches of an unspecified biological agent, and sheep carcasses to test the efficiency of an incinerator for the disposal of infected livestock.

Although the Sterne strain is not thought to be harmful to humans and is used for vaccination, the contracts have caused major concern. "It raises a serious question over how the US is going to demonstrate its compliance with obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention if it brings these tanks online," says Alan Pearson, programme director for biological and chemical weapons at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington DC. "If one can grow the Sterne strain in these units, one could also grow the Ames strain, which is quite lethal."

The US renounced biological weapons in 1969, but small quantities of lethal anthrax were still being produced at Dugway as recently as 1998.

It is not known what use the biological agents will be put to. They could be used to test procedures to decontaminate vehicles or buildings, or to test an "agent defeat" warhead designed to destroy stores of chemical and biological weapons.

There are even fears that they could be used to determine how effectively anthrax is dispersed when released from bombs or crop-spraying aircraft. "I can definitely see them testing biological weapons delivery systems for threat assessment," says Hammond.

Whatever use it is put to, however, the move could be seen as highly provocative by other nations, he says. "What would happen to the Biological Weapons Convention if other countries followed suit and built large biological production facilities at secretive military bases known for weapons testing?"

A spokesperson for Dugway said the anthrax contract is still at the pre-solicitation stage, and the base has not yet acquired the agent. They refused to say what it will be used for.

Posted by:Anonymoose

#4 "It raises a serious question over how the US is going to demonstrate its compliance with obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention if it brings these tanks online," says Alan Pearson, programme director for biological and chemical weapons at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington DC.

Bitching about the U.S. always comes easy, but what about the ticking time bomb on Vozrozhdeniya Island in the Aral Sea area of the old Soviet Union? How about doing something substantial about THAT real problem, instead of moaning about some perceived problem with our military?

We've largely abided by the treaties we've signed on to, unlike others...

Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-09-26 12:37

#3 I would hazard to guess a few things. First being that the Army has been instructed to figure out how anthrax would and could be dispersed as a terrorist weapon. While anthrax is particularly nasty and persistent, it just doesn't disperse as easily as it should.

For example, the 1979 "Sverdlovsk Incident", resulted in almost a liter of spores being blown into the air, upwind of a city of 2M people. But less than 100 people died of the disease. The Russians still had to decontaminate the hell out of the city, but it really put a crimp into the reputation of anthrax as a bioweapon.

While the US Army is aware of this, and that anthrax is endemic throughout the entire US South, from Florida to California, and deep into Mexico, our civilian leaders are probably not so familiar with it. So the Army just shrugs and looks at it as an opportunity to learn something that may be applicable to something else someday.

As far as potential lethality goes, anthrax is nothing compared to influenza, which routinely kills between 30,000 and 50,000 Americans every flu season.

Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-09-26 11:46

#2 non-virulent strain of anthrax

I must be missing something, why a "Non-Virulent" strain, what good is a non-poisionous poison?

Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-26 11:11

#1 Define bulk, define small quantities.

Remember in the anthrax terrorist attack in 2001, among the suspects were college/university vet activities which were given small amounts for research. The stuff is maintained for obvious studies and research in medical protection of humans and animals. Something missing here in this report, guess what and why. Once again Pravda circa the 21st century at work.

Posted by: Charong Speath5297 2005-09-26 11:07

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