Product Code Database
Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, and biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,200 different kinds of potentially weaponizable bio-agents have been described and studied to date, and experts expect that in the future it will be possible to design novel biological weapons.
Some biological agents have the ability to adversely affect health in a variety of ways, ranging from relatively mild allergy to serious medical conditions, including serious injury, as well as serious or permanent disability or death. Many of these organisms are ubiquitous in the natural environment where they are found in water, soil, plants, or animals. Bio-agents may be amenable to "weaponization" to render them easier to deploy or disseminate. Genetic modification may enhance their incapacitating or lethal properties, or render them impervious to conventional treatments or preventives. Since many bio-agents reproduce rapidly and require minimal resources for propagation, they are also a potential danger in a wide variety of occupational settings.
The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention is an international treaty banning the development, use or stockpiling of biological weapons; as of March 2021, there were 183 states parties to the treaty. Bio-agents are, however, widely studied for both defensive and medical research purposes under various biosafety levels and within biocontainment facilities throughout the world.
| Anthrax | Bacillus anthracis (N or TR) |
| Brucellosis | Brucella abortus |
| Brucellosis | Brucella melitensis (AM or BX) |
| Brucellosis | Brucella suis (US, AB or NX) |
| Cholera | Vibrio cholerae (HO) |
| Diphtheria | Corynebacterium diphtheriae (DK) |
| Dysentery | Shigella dysenteriae, Escherichia coli (Y) |
| Glanders | Burkholderia mallei (LA) |
| Listeriosis | Listeria monocytogenes (TQ) |
| Melioidosis | Burkholderia pseudomallei (HI) |
| Plague | Yersinia pestis (LE) |
| Tularemia | Francisella tularensis (SR or JT) |
| Psittacosis | Chlamydophila psittaci (SI) |
| Q fever | Coxiella burnetii (OU) |
| Rocky Mountain spotted fever | Rickettsia rickettsii (RI or UY) |
| Epidemic typhus | Rickettsia prowazekii (YE) |
| Murine typhus | Rickettsia typhi (AV) |
| Equine encephalitis (Eastern) | Eastern equine encephalitis virus (ZX) | |
| Equine encephalitis (Venezuelan) | Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (FX) | |
| Equine encephalitis (Western) | Western equine encephalitis virus (EV) | |
| Japanese B encephalitis | Japanese encephalitis virus (AN) | |
| Marburg hemorrhagic fever (Marburg HF) | Marburg virus (MARV) | by the Soviet UnionKenneth Alibek and S. Handelman. Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World - Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran it. 1999. Delta (2000) . |
| Rift Valley fever | Rift Valley fever virus (FA) | |
| Smallpox | Variola virus (ZL) | |
| Yellow fever | Yellow fever virus (OJ or LU) |
| Coccidioidomycosis | Coccidioides immitis (OC) |
| Abrin | Rosary pea ( Abrus precatorius) |
| Botulinum toxin | Clostridium botulinum bacteria or spores, and several other Clostridial species. (X or XR) |
| Ricin | Castor bean ( Ricinus communis) (W or WA) |
| Saxitoxin | Various marine and brackish cyanobacteria, such as Anabaena, Aphanizomenon, Lyngbya, and Cylindrospermopsis (TZ) |
| Staphylococcal enterotoxin B | Staphylococcus aureus (UC or PG) |
| Tetrodotoxin | Various marine bacteria, including Vibrio alginolyticus, Pseudoalteromonas tetraodonis (PP) |
| Trichothecene mycotoxins | Various species of fungi, including Fusarium, Trichoderma, and Stachybotrys |
| Mosquito ( Aedes aegypti) (AP) | Malaria, Dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever, other |
| Oriental flea ( Xenopsylla cheopis) | Plague, murine typhus |
The typical size of simulants (1–5 μm) enables it to enter buildings with closed windows and doors and penetrate deep into the lungs. This bears a significant health risk, even if the biological agent is normally not pathogenic.
The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention supplements the Geneva Protocol by prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons. Having entered into force on 26 March 1975, this agreement was the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban the production of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. As of March 2021, 183 states have become party to the treaty. The treaty is considered to have established a strong global norm against biological weapons, which is reflected in the treaty's preamble, stating that the use of biological weapons would be "repugnant to the conscience of mankind". However, its effectiveness has been limited due to insufficient institutional support and the absence of any formal verification regime to monitor compliance.
In 1985, the Australia Group was established, a multilateral export control regime of 43 countries aiming to prevent the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons.
In 2004, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1540, which obligates all UN Member States to develop and enforce appropriate legal and regulatory measures against the proliferation of Chemical weapon, biological, radiological, and and their means of delivery, in particular, to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction to .
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