Advertisement
Research Article| Volume 21, ISSUE 3, P593-606, September 2001

Toxins as Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Comparison and Contrast With Biological-Warfare and Chemical-Warfare Agents

  • Ltc James M. Madsen
    Correspondence
    Address reprint requests to LTC James M. Madsen, MD, MPH, MC-FS, USA, PMB, Room A-1040A, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799.
    Affiliations
    From the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Pathology, and Military and Emergency Medicine, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; and National Capital Consortium Residency in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland
    Search for articles by this author
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-2712(18)30023-4
Toxins as Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Comparison and Contrast With Biological-Warfare and Chemical-Warfare Agents
Previous ArticleAgroterrorism, Biological Crimes, and Biowarfare Targeting Animal Agriculture: The Clinical, Pathologic, Diagnostic, and Epidemiologic Features of Some Important Animal Diseases
Next ArticleBioregulators as Instruments of Terror
      This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
      Toxins are at times considered to be biological warfare agents and are sometimes grouped with chemical warfare agents. In reality, they exhibit important similarities and also differences relative to each group. The fact that toxins occupy this ill-defined no-man’s land between chemical warfare and biological warfare agents has important conceptual implications for planners, policy makers, educators, and clinicians. This article examines toxins in general, toxins that might be used as weapons of mass destruction against either military or civilian targets, and the relationship of toxins to biological warfare and chemical warfare agents.
      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      Subscribers receive full online access to your subscription and archive of back issues up to and including 2002.

      Content published before 2002 is available via pay-per-view purchase only.

      Subscribe:

      Subscribe to Clinics in Laboratory Medicine
      Already a print subscriber? Claim online access
      Already an online subscriber? Sign in
      Register: Create an account
      Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect

      References

      1. Chemical and biological weapons chronology. Federation of American Scientists, 2000. http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/bwc/chron.htm

      2. Chemical Weapons Convention. Schedule 1: A List of Schedule 1 Chemicals. Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 2000. http://www.opcw.nl/cwc/sched-ull.htm

      3. Chemical Weapons Convention. Texts of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 2000. http://www.opcw.nl/ptshome.htm

      4. Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction. Federation of American Scientists, 2000. http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/bwc/text/bwc.htm

      5. Department of the Army. NATO Handbook on the Medical Aspects of NBC Defensive Operations AMEDP-6(B) Part II (Biological) (Field Manual 8-9), 1996. http://206.39.77.2/dmcr/NBC/chemcas/fm8-9/Documents/PART_II/index.htm and from http://www.fedworld.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate7waisdocid=717319391+0+0+O&waisaction=retrieve

        • Franz D.R.
        Defense against toxin weapons.
        in: Sidell F.R. Takafuji E.T. Franz D.R. Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare (Textbook of Military Medicine, Part I). Borden Institute, Washington, DC1997: 603-619
        • Franz D.R.
        • Jaax N.K.
        Ricin toxin.
        in: Sidell F.R. Takafuji E.T. Franz D.R. Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare (Textbook of Military Medicine, Part I). Borden Institute, Washington, DC1997: 631-642
        • Franz D.R.
        • Jahrling P.B.
        • Friedlander A.M.
        Clinical recognition and management of patients exposed to biological warfare agents.
        JAMA. 1997; 278: 399-411
        • Griffiths G.D.
        • Phillips G.J.
        • Bailey S.C.
        Comparison of the quality of protection elicited by toxoid and peptide liposomal vaccine formulations against ricin as assessed by markers of inflammation.
        Vaccine. 1999; 17: 2562-2568
        • Kortepeter M.G.
        • Parker G.W.
        Potential biological weapons threats.
        Emerg Infect Dis. 1999; 5: 523-527
        • Middlebrook J.L.
        • Franz D.R.
        Botulinum toxins.
        in: Sidell F.R. Takafuji E.T. Franz D.R. Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare (Textbook of Military Medicine, Part I). Borden Institute, Washington, DC1997: 643-654
        • Simon J.D.
        Biological terrorism: Preparing to meet the threat.
        JAMA. 1997; 278: 428-430

      13. Spertzel RO, Wannemacher RW, Patrick WC et al: Technical Ramifications of Inclusion of Toxins in the Chemical Weapons Convention. Alexandria, VA, Defense Nuclear Agency, 1992, pp 92-116

        • Stafford R.G.
        • Mehta M.
        • Kemppainen B.W.
        Comparison of the partition coefficient and skin penetration of a marine algal toxin (lyngbyatoxin A).
        Food Chem Toxicol. 1992; 30: 795-801
        • Steyn P.S.
        Mycotoxins, general view, chemistry and structure.
        Toxicol Lett. 1995; 83: 843-851
        • Ulrich R.G.
        • Sidell S.
        • Taylor T.J.
        • et al.
        Staphylococcal enterotoxin B and related pyrogenic toxins.
        in: Sidell F.R. Takafuji E.T. Franz D.R. Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare (Textbook of Military Medicine, Part I). Borden Institute, Washington, DC1997: 621-630

      17. University of Vermont: Vermont Safety Information Resources, Inc. Toxicology report, Botulinum Toxin A, 2000. http://hazard.com/msds/tox/f/q34/q442.html

      18. University of Vermont. Vermont Safety Information Resources, Inc. Toxicology Report, Ricin, 2000. http://hazard.eom/msds/tox/f/ql24/q822.html

      19. University of Vermont: Vermont Safety Information Resources, Inc. Toxicology Report, Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B, 2000. http://hazard.eom/msds/tox/f/ql34/q853.html

      20. University of Vermont: Vermont Safety Information Resources, Inc. Toxicology Report, Trichothec-9-ene-3-alpha, 4-beta, 8-alpha, 15-tetrol, 12,13-epoxy-, 4,15-diacetate 8-iso-valerate, 2000. http://hazard.eom/msds/tox/f/ql37/q256.html

        • Wannemacher Jr, R.W.
        • Wiener S.L.
        Trichothecene mycotoxins.
        in: Sidell F.R. Takafuji E.T. Franz D.R. Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare (Textbook of Military Medicine, Part I). Borden Institute, Washington, DC1997: 655-676

      22. Zilinskas R: Assessing the threat of bioterrorism: Congressional testimony by Raymond Zilinskas, October 20, 1999, U.S. House of Representatives, http://www.house.gov/reform/ns/press/test3.htm

      Article info

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-2712(18)30023-4

      Copyright

      © 2001 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      ScienceDirect

      Access this article on ScienceDirect

      The content on this site is intended for healthcare professionals.


      We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content. To update your cookie settings, please visit the Cookie Preference Center for this site.
      Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. except certain content provided by third parties.


      RELX