Dr. Anthony Fauci: Ebola Can Be Weaponized

[Ronin Truth]

Newsmax

Dr. Anthony Fauci: Ebola Can Be Weaponized

Tuesday, September 16, 2014 08:31 PM

By: Cathy Burke

Recalling that the Soviet Union stockpiled hemorrhagic fevers during the Cold War, a federal health official warned Tuesday the Ebola virus could be similarly wielded as a potential weapon of mass destruction.

"Theoretically, you can manipulate almost any virus to change it in any way you want," National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Anthony Fauci, told a Senate hearing, The Hill reports.

"The only trouble is, it wouldn't be easy for somebody to do that in their backyard laboratory. They would probably kill themselves doing it. It would take a state-type [actor]."

Fauci, whose agency is part of the National Institutes of Health, told lawmakers Ebola will continue to mutate in potentially dangerous ways unless it's contained.

For example, he pointed out, Ebola now is spread through bodily fluids, but there's a possibility — albeit slim — it could become airborne over time.

"It is an unusual situation where a mutation would completely change the way a virus is transmitted," he said, The Hill reported. "It is not impossible but it would be unlikely."

"We never take anything like that lightly. Changing transmissibility … is obviously something that could be a frightening thing."

The comments came during Congress's first hearing on the epidemic ravaging West Africa, just as President Barack Obama announced new military efforts to stop Ebola in Liberia.

Fauci also revealed the first human trial of an Ebola vaccination has so far produced no adverse effects, The Washington Post reports.

"So far 10 of the 20 volunteers have been vaccinated, and thus far there have been no red flags," Fauci told lawmakers.

The Phase I trial is being conducted at an NIH facility in Bethesda, Md. and is focused on building scientific evidence that the vaccine is safe in humans, The Post notes. It was developed by British drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline in conjunction with the NIH.

"The proof is in the pudding to show scientifically that it works," Fauci said.

Related Stories:

• Medical Expert: Canadian Ebola Vaccine May Not Be Enough
• Experts: Ebola Deaths Could Top 100,000 by Year's End

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ebo...t_nbr=y8a9simf

[Zippyjuan]

Be afwaid!

For example, he pointed out, Ebola now is spread through bodily fluids, but there's a possibility — albeit slim — it could become airborne over time.

"It is an unusual situation where a mutation would completely change the way a virus is transmitted," he said, The Hill reported. "It is not impossible but it would be unlikely."

[tangent4ronpaul]

http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/pos...ional_threat_0

Weapons of mass destruction are the holy grail for terrorist groups, and over the years a number of organizations have announced their intentions to acquire chemical, biological, and radiological weapons. But the discovery of a laptop purportedly belonging to a member of the Islamic State is raising new questions about whether the terrorist group, which U.S. officials say is more dangerous than al Qaeda, is poised to launch a WMD attack.
U.S. officials and terrorism experts said that the discovery of the laptop raises troubling questions about the Islamic State's intentions and its ability to conduct a WMD strike. But they urged caution, noting that the presence of documents on building biological weapons does not necessarily add up to an actual capability to use them.
"I wouldn't dismiss the idea of a WMD attack by terrorists," said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "It's something we should guard against. But in terms of something I worry about, it's far down the list."
Still, the laptop and its more than 35,000 files provide a rare and unsettling window into the Islamist State's inner workings. One U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss developing intelligence, said the files on the laptop offer some of the most precise information to date on the Islamic State's WMD aspirations. The information indicates that the Islamic State likely now has the ability to build at least some form of biological or chemical weapon, the official said.
The laptop, which was examined by correspondents for Foreign Policy, contains thousands of files related to planning and launching terrorist attacks. Most troubling is a document that discusses how to weaponize bubonic plague. But turning that knowledge into a working weapon requires particular expertise, and it's not clear that the Islamic State has it.
"That they have the capabilities and intentions [to build some WMD] is beyond dispute," Gartenstein-Ross said. But the Islamic State would still face considerable obstacles if it actually attempted to build a weapon with bubonic plague. "It's a very dangerous thing to try to harness as an offensive weapon, in part because you might kill all your own guys in the process," Gartenstein-Ross said.
But the risk of building WMD hasn't blunted terrorists' ambition. Only last year, Iraqi officials broke up an al Qaeda cell in Iraq that attempted to build chemical weapons for attacks in the West. Chemical weapons are potentially less dangerous than weaponized biological agents, which is what makes the files on the Islamic State's laptop so concerning.

-t

[donnay]

Race specific bio-weapon?

[Zippyjuan]

From Tangent's article:

"I wouldn't dismiss the idea of a WMD attack by terrorists," said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "It's something we should guard against. But in terms of something I worry about, it's far down the list."

At this point in time, your odds of getting killed by a terrorist (here or abroad) are one in 20 million.

[Zippyjuan]

Race specific bio-weapon?

No such thing. There is no known chemical, drug, virus, or anything else which can be selectively target at one race of people.

[tangent4ronpaul]

At this point in time, your odds of getting killed by a terrorist (here or abroad) are one in 20 million.

there are (er, were) 75,000 ppl in west point. something like 1,000 of them have died...

-t

[Zippyjuan]

From terrorist attacks? Out of a US population of 300 million?

Aside from 9/11, most US terrorist deaths have come from domestic, not foreign groups.

Number of attacks in the US:


Number of Attacks by Group:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...united-states/

(note- they count 9/11 as four "events" since they occured in four different places)

[tangent4ronpaul]

(note- they count 9/11 as four "events" since they occured in four different places)

I think it's three on 9/11 and then one years before with the truck bomb in the basement of the WTC. or maybe they are counting the two towers seperatly and not counting the one that crashed in the field because it was just a hijacking? Probably the first.

-t

[donnay]

No such thing. There is no known chemical, drug, virus, or anything else which can be selectively target at one race of people.

Governments and Biowarfare: A Brief History
http://www.corbettreport.com/article...re_history.htm

GE Biological "Ethnic" Weapons Loom on the Horizon
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/ethnicweapon.cfm

[Zippyjuan]

Second article is from 15 years ago and still they have not been developed. Problem is that people are not as genetically diverse as once thought so it is harder to design one. First says "maybe" and "what if". The Mexican Flu was a version of H1N1 and didn't just kill Mexicans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic Deaths occurred in every region of the world except Antarctica.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2...ponstechnology

"Trying to find a weapon that affects quite a few of one ethnic group and none of another ethnic group is just not going to happen," says David Goldstein, who studies population genetics at University College London. "Because all groups are quite similar you will never get something that is highly selective. The best you would probably do is something that kills 20% of one group and 28% of another."