Biological warfare in the twentieth century: lessons from the past, challenges for the future

Biological warfare and fear of biological warfare have affected our wars, our peace, and our research throughout this century. During World War I, animals were deliberately infected with glanders. During World War II, biowarfare research was carried out by Japan, Germany, England, and the United States. Japan carried out biological warfare attacks in China. England used biological warfare for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. In the 1950s and 1960s, Army researchers released bacteria over U.S. cities in biological warfare tests. The most frequent biological warfare terrorist episodes have been contamination of food and water. Although biological warfare can be very low tech, genetic engineering is capable of making biowarfare agents available in vast quantities. Biowarfare research should continue, but the National Institutes of Health should oversee human biological warfare research.