Can we handle a bioterrorism attack on America? I say no. After the 2001 anthrax letters America tightened up and decided to research ways to prevent such a scenario. This country has spent a lot of money trying to research it and also find ways to prevent attacks. In 2002, America spent millions of tax payers dollars on labs and scientists to research such a thing. Did tax payers know this is what they helped pay for? Most likely not. But is it for the common good of humanity? After reading an article entitled "Antrax Case Renews Questions on Bioterror" published in 2008, I have formulated my own opinion to this, Microbes such as Antrax, are too powerful. A scholar from Stanford calculated that if two pounds of anthrax spores were dropped over an American city, it would kill over 100,000 people, even if antibiotics were spread as fast as they can. These microbes can wipe out entire communities, ecosystems, and basically anything. This world started with microbes and with some human help they can end the world. My solution to the problem? Simple. Stop access to deadly microbes if possible, get rid of all the people trying to use microbes for bioterrorism, and last but not least if an attack happens your best bet to do is let the microbe take its course and avoid every person so they can't contract what you sadly got.
Resources: "Anthrax Case Renews Questions on Bioterror" by Eric Lipton and Scott Shane published August third, 2008, New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/us/03anthrax.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0
Quite a scary article you have Corey. As for me, not being able to know these events that happened in America during the past years, it's scary how us humans can control microbes and turning them into weapons. It's a bummer to waste all of those money that us the taxpayers have been paying all these years even though, that this particular microbe, Anthrax, is just too powerful. I didn't even know that Americans were dying from opening letters that contains Anthrax actually happened. If America was under attack by bioterrorism, I wouldn't say we would be able to act or respond quickly and be able to counter measure such event as that. As a question come into my mind, can we actually find a way to prevent such an event to happen? As a resident of the Unites States, I'm quite bloody scared of my life to let such thing happen. I think that anyone wouldn't like to die in such a terrible way. As I see the world today, we live in a world, where Nuclear Power is quite common and damn dangerous. Bio-power might be just around the corner waiting.
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