Terror kingpin Osama bin Laden was dead already, but the threat remains that extremists could still launch biological attacks on the public, a U.S. official told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"There is no doubt that al Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us," said Ambassador Laura Kennedy, U.S. special representative for biological and toxin weapons convention issues.
In spite of bin Laden's death, Kennedy said the United States must continue to remain vigilant across the spectrum of possible methods
that extremists might use to wreak havoc.
Among those are bio weapons, which can be constructed with little specialized knowledge and without costly facilities and infrastructure, she said.
"You can develop bio agents using very simple laboratories," she said.
"So you don't require a huge elaborate infrastructure, as you would to develop a nuclear weapon."
"Very simple capabilities will do, that are available around the world. So indeed bio terrorism is a real threat and one that we take
very seriously," she said.
Ricin, for example, is a toxin derived from the readily available castor bean, and extremists have attempted to use it in the past. In the early 1990s, for example, members of the Minnesota Patriots Council acquired the substance and allegedly planned to use it against federal officials.
DANGEROUS AGENTS, BUT CAN THEY BE DELIVERED?
Some experts, however, said that while bio weapons may be fairly simple to construct, disbursing them is no easy task.
Global intelligence company Stratfor said on its website that although it is possible for non-state actors to develop and deploy biological
agents and toxins, they are more likely to employ relatively simple and proven methods of attack --such as firearms and explosives --than
some exotic weapon.
Moreover, manufacture of biological agents using low technology most often yields small amounts and minimally potent products. Truly weaponized biological agents produced and prepared in quantities great enough for deployment as a weapon of mass destruction require much more sophisticated labs and weaponization facilities than most non-state actors or lone wolves can ever create in their garages or storage sheds, Stratfor argued.
Kennedy, however, contended that a bio attack could take many forms.
It could be relatively low tech and result in a limited number of casualties. Or it could be a sophisticated operation that produces tens of thousands of deaths.
But since a terrorist's objective is to terrify the public for the purpose of garnering political concessions, even an attack resulting in limited casualties could be damaging.
It could, for example, have harsh economic consequences, such as those that followed the 2001 anthrax attacks, Kennedy said. Some figures
showed the damage to be in the billions of U.S. dollars.
AUTHORITIES FACED WITH TOUGH TASK
For authorities, the challenge is how to thwart bio attacks when the materials needed for deadly biological weapons are readily available
worldwide, even in high school laboratories.
"There's been an explosion of knowledge and development in the bio area, so it's very hard to keep track of," Kennedy said."You may think
you have a handle on it, but then new things are engineered and new techniques are developed at quite a dizzying pace."
And given the massive movement of people and goods around the world, there will be a greater need to deal with pandemics and bio threats
wherever they occur, she said.
One of the most successful bio weapons attacks in the United States was conducted by the Bhagwan Shri Rashneesh cult in Oregon in 1984.
Members put salmonella bacteria in grocery store produce and in local salad bars and restaurants. The operation left more than 700 people
sick and was meant to prevent voters from getting to the polls in anelection in which one of the group's followers was running.
BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION
Kennedy also said the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is one forum that aims to take on the issue through international cooperation on a number of fronts. The next BWC meeting is slated to take place in Geneva in December.