Russian Views on Countering Terrorism During Eight Years of Dialogue Extracts from Proceedings of Four U.S.-Russian Workshops (2009) / Chapter Skim
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Bioterrorism: A View from the Side--Oleg S. Morenkov
Bioterrorism: A View from the Side--Oleg S. Morenkov
Pages 23-30
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From page 23... ...
Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Cell Biophysics I work as head of a group at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Cell Biophysics in Pushchino, one of the leading biological research centers of Russia. My work there has been associated with the study of the regulation of monoclonal antibody synthesis by hybridized cells.
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From page 24... ...
How can we reduce the probability that terrorists will use biological weapons? It seems that bioterrorism is an evil we will have to encounter in the near future, and the entire world community will have to fight it with united efforts.
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If bioterrorists were to develop their own strain using current molecular biological methods, it would require substantial expenditures, and at present I believe this to be unlikely, although possible.
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Terrorist acts involving the widespread release of dangerous human pathogens (smallpox, anthrax) in crowded areas could potentially lead to huge numbers of human casualties and enormous economic costs involved in dealing with the consequences, which could destabilize the situation in a country.
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From page 27... ...
Take, for example, a recently published study by Australian researchers that attracted worldwide notice. These researchers cloned the interleukin-4 gene in mouse pox virus and, as a result, unexpectedly obtained a virus substantially more virulent than the initial strain.
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From page 28... ...
Given Russia's economic weakness and its poor technical preparedness for dealing with the consequences of bioterrorism, a wide-scale bioterrorist attack carried out on Russian soil would in high likelihood produce an unfavorable scenario that might lead to a large number of casualties, social tension, and a destabilization of the situation. Thus, Russia finds itself in a situation characterized on the one hand by favorable conditions for terrorist groups to make or even develop bioweapons and on the other hand by a lack of preparedness to counter a bioterrorist act if it is committed.
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From page 29... ...
I would like to stress that serious attention needs to be paid to support not only for military science, but also for peaceful biological science not associated with bioweapons. From the standpoint of potential involvement in the manufacture or development of bioweapons, civilian virologists or molecular biologists are even more attractive to bioterrorists than are military specialists, given the weak control and monitoring research work carried out in civilian biological institutes in comparison with military organizations.
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From page 30... ...
In this regard, Russia could potentially become one of the top sites for the manufacture of biological weapons by terrorists. Active targeted support for Russian biological science by the world community, and primarily by the United States of America, would undoubtedly promote the elimination of these negative tendencies.
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