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Agricultural Biowarfare: State Programs to Develop Offensive Capabilities

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The chart below includes states that have developed or are suspected of developing biological agents with anti-livestock or anti-crop properties, although zoonotic agents can infect both livestock and humans.[1] This chart summarizes data available from open sources. Precise assessment of a state's capabilities is difficult because most bio-warfare programs were, and/or are, secret and cannot be independently assessed. For information on complete CBW state programs and activities, see the CBW: Possession and Programs chart.

STATE STATUS[2] DATES DISEASE COMMENTS
Canada[3] Former 1941-1960's anthrax, Rinderpest Exact date of project termination unclear
Egypt[4] Probable 1972-present anthrax, brucellosis, glanders, psittacosis, Eastern equine encephalitis  
France[5] Former 1939-1972 potato beetle, Rinderpest Exact date of project termination unclear
Germany[6] Former 1915-1917,
1942-1945
anthrax, foot and mouth disease, glanders, potato beetle, wheat fungus During WWII also experimented with turnip weevils, antler moths, potato stalk rot, potato tuber decay, and misc. anti-crop weeds
Iraq[7] Known 1980s-present aflatoxin, anthrax, camelpox, foot and mouth disease, wheat stem rust Believed to retain elements of program despite UN disarmament efforts; camel pox may have been surrogate for smallpox
Japan[8] Former 1937-1945 anthrax, glanders During WWII experimented with misc. anti-crop fungi, bacteria, nematodes
North Korea[9] Probable ? - present anthrax  
Rhodesia[10]
(Zimbabwe)
Uncertain/Former 1978-1980 anthrax A suspicious epidemic of cattle anthrax resulted in 182 human deaths. Some epidemiologists believe government forces infected livestock to impoverish the rural black population during the last phase of the civil war.
South Africa[11] Former 1980’s-1993 anthrax  
Syria[12] Probable ? - present anthrax  
United Kingdom[13] Former 1937-1960’s anthrax Exact date of project termination unclear
United States[14] Former 1943-1969 anthrax, brucellosis, Eastern & Western equine encephalitis, foot and mouth disease, fowl plague, glanders, late blight of potato, Newcastle disease, psittacosis, rice blast, rice brown spot disease, Rinderpest, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, wheat blast fungus, wheat stem rust  
USSR[15]
(Russia,
Khazakstan,
Uzbekistan)
Formerly active; current status unclear 1935-1992 African swine fever, anthrax, Avian influenza, brown grass mosaic, brucellosis, contagious bovine pleuropneunomia, contagious ecthyma (sheep), foot and mouth disease, glanders, maize rust, Newcastle disease virus, potato virus, psittacosis, rice blast, Rinderpest, rye blast, tobacco mosaic, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, vesicular stomatitis, wheat & barley mosaic streak, wheat stem rust Also experimented with parasitic insects and insect attractants

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[1] Zoonotic agents/diseases above are anthrax, brucellosis, glanders, psittacosis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis.

[2] Known: where states have either declared their programs or there is clear evidence of possession. Probable: where states have been publicly named by government or military officials as 'probable' possessors or as producing agents. Former: where states have acknowledged having a program in the past.

[3] The Office of Technology Assessment includes Canada in a list of countries that have admitted to having had "offensive [biological] weapon munition supplies or development programs in the past." U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, August 1993), p. 63. See also Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare, Vol. I (NY: Humanities Press, 1971), p. 118-119; and John Bryden, Deadly Allies: Canada's Secret War 1937-1947, pp. 108, 120, 210, 218, 223, 243.

[4] "The United States believes that Egypt had developed biological warfare agents by 1972. There is no evidence to indicate that Egypt has eliminated this capability and it remains likely that the Egyptian capability to conduct biological warfare continues to exist." ACDA Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control Agreements: 1997 Annual Report to Congress, (U.S. Dept. of State) [ http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/reports/annual/comp97.html]. Anthrax is among those agents which Egypt has reportedly conducted applied research. Shoham, "Chemical and Biological Weapons in Egypt," The Nonproliferation Review, 5:3 (Spring-Summer 1998), p. 54-55.

[5] Jonathan Ban, "Agricultural Biological Warfare: An Overview", The Arena, No. 9 (June 2000), Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, p. 2. See also Oliver Lepick, "French Activities Related to Biological Warfare, 1919-1945," in Geissler, Erhard and Moon, John Ellis van Courtland, eds., Biological Warfare from the Middle Ages to 1945, (NY: Oxford University Press, 1999); and Michael Mates, “Biological Weapons: the Threat of the New Century?” NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Science and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on the Proliferation of Military Technology, April 16, 1999 [ http://www.naa.be/publications/comrep/1999/as135stcmt-e.html#T1-2-B].

[6] Jonathan Ban, "Agricultural Biological Warfare: An Overview", The Arena, No. 9 (June 2000), Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, p. 2. See also Erhard Geissler, "Biological Warfare Activities in Germany, 1923-45" in Geissler, Erhard and Moon, John Ellis van Courtland, eds., Biological Warfare from the Middle Ages to 1945, (NY: Oxford University Press, 1999); and W. Seth Carus, Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents in the 20th Century, Working Paper (Center for Counterproliferation Research, National Defense University, August 1998/July 1999 revision), p. 87-89.

[7] "Despite Coalition bombing, UNSCOM destruction, and UN sanctions and monitoring, Iraq may retain elements of its old program, including some missile warheads." Office of the Secretary of Defense, Proliferation: Threat and Response, 1997 Report (U.S. Dept. of Defense) [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/prolif97/meafrica.html#iraq]; "The United States believes that Iraq is capable of producing biological warfare agents and is probably intent on continuing its offensive BW efforts if the threat of UNSCOM inspections and long-term monitoring are removed." Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control Agreements: 1995 Annual Report to Congress (Washington, DC: U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency); See also United Nations Special Commission, "Latest Six-Monthly Report," April 16, 1998, (United Nations) [http://www.un.org/Depts/unscom/s98-332.htm]; United Nations, "Fourth Report under Resolution 1051," June 10, 1997 [http://www.un.org/Depts/unscom/s97-774.htm]; and the Eighth UNSCOM Report to the Security Council, S/1995/864, October 11, 1995 [http://www.un.org/Depts/unscom/sres95-864.htm].

[8] Jonathan Ban, "Agricultural Biological Warfare: An Overview", The Arena, No. 9 (June 2000), Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, p. 2. See also Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg, Plague Wars: A True Story of Biological Warfare, (NY: St. Martins Press, 2000), p. 24; Sheldon Harris, "The Japanese Biological Warfare Program: An Overview," in Geissler, Erhard and Moon, John Ellis van Courtland, eds., Biological Warfare from the Middle Ages to 1945, (NY: Oxford University Press, 1999); and Senator Dianne Feinstein, "Introduction of the Japanese Imperial Army Disclosure Act of 1999," Congressional Record: November 10, 1999 (Senate), p. S14533-S14571.

[9] Russian intelligence reports that North Korea is conducting military applied research on anthrax. Russian Federation Foreign Intelligence Service, "A New Challenge After the Cold War: Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction," p. 99. See also North Korea Advisory Group, Report to The Speaker U.S. House of Representatives, November 1999; Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg, Plague Wars: A True Story of Biological Warfare, (NY: St. Martins Press, 2000), p. 329-330; and Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing the North Korean BW Arsenal," Jane's Intelligence Review, August 1998, 28-29.

[10] Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg, Plague Wars: A True Story of Biological Warfare, (NY: St. Martins Press, 2000), p. 214-223; U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Technologies Underlying Weapons of Mass Destruction, OTA-BP-ISC-115 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, December 1993), p. 110; Meryl Nass, "Anthrax Epizootic in Zimbabwe, 1978-1980: Due to Deliberate Spread?" The PSR Quarterly, 2:4 (December 1992), 198-209; J.C.A. Davies, "A Major Epidemic of Anthrax in Zimbabwe, Part 1," Central African Journal of Medicine, 28 (1982), 291-298; J.C.A. Davies, "A Major Epidemic of Anthrax in Zimbabwe, Part 2," Central African Journal of Medicine, 29 (1983), 8-12.

[11] Truth and Reconciliation Commission, "Special Investigation into Project Coast: South Africa's Chemical And Biological Warfare Programme," Final Report, Vol. 2, chap. 6, October 29, 1998; A government spokesman stated that South Africa's biological weapons program has been "terminated, and that the material for offensive purposes in government storage has been destroyed." The program was shut down in 1993 and its products dumped at sea. See Buchizya Mseteka, "S. Africa Says it Terminated Chemical Weapons Scheme," Reuters, June 15, 1998; and Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg, Plague Wars: A True Story of Biological Warfare, (NY: St. Martins Press, 2000), p. 220

[12] In its annual report to Congress, ACDA states that "it is highly probable that Syria is developing an offensive biological warfare capability." ACDA, Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control Agreements: 1997 Annual Report to Congress (U.S. Dept. of State) [http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/reports/annual/comp97.html]; Also, Syria has a "[p]robable production capability for anthrax and botulinum toxin, and possibly other agents." Anthony H. Cordesman, "Creeping Proliferation Could Mean a Paradigm Shift in the Cost of War and Terrorism," (Center for Strategic and International Studies).

[13] Jonathan Ban, "Agricultural Biological Warfare: An Overview", The Arena, No. 9 (June 2000), Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, p. 2. See also Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare, Vol. I (NY: Humanities Press, 1971), p. 117-118; and Michael Mates, "Biological Weapons: the Threat of the New Century?” NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Science and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on the Proliferation of Military Technology, April 16, 1999 [http://www.naa.be/publications/comrep/1999/as135stcmt-e.html#T1-2-B].

[14] Jonathan Ban, "Agricultural Biological Warfare: An Overview", The Arena, No. 9 (June 2000), Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, p. 2-3; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare, Vol. I (NY: Humanities Press, 1971), p. 122-123.See also USAMRIID, "A History of Biological Warfare," [http://www.gulfwarvets.com/biowar.htm]

[15] Ken Alibek with Stephen Handelman, Biohazard (NY: Random House, 1999), pp. 268-269, 301; and “The Soviet Union's Anti-Agricultural Biological Weapons,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 894 (1999), 18-19; According to the DOD, some work "outside the scope of legitimate biological defense activity may be occurring" in Russia. Office of the Secretary of Defense, Proliferation: Threat and Response, 1997 Report (U.S. Dept. of Defense) [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/prolif97/fsu.html#russia]. "[S]ome facilities, in addition to being engaged in legitimate activity, may be maintaining the capability to produce biological warfare agents." ACDA, Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control Agreements: 1997 Annual Report to Congress (U.S. Dept. of State) [http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/reports/annual/comp97.html].


Created: 10/2000



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