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'''Biological weapons''' are infectious or toxic agents used in warfare.  In the [[Western world]], they are banned under the Biological Weapons Convention of 1975<ref>http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/%28httpPages%29/04FBBDD6315AC720C1257180004B1B2F?OpenDocument</ref> but some countries still have stocks of them.  Biological weapons have the potential of a deadly threat against [[civilian]] [[population]]s.

==United States==
{{See also|U.S. funded biological labs abroad}}
[[File:Biological research labs.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Russian military reported it had identified 30 sites where biological research with pathogens had been occurring under the direction of the [[Pentagon]]; [[Victoria Nuland]] later confirmed 46 locations.<ref>[https://youtu.be/ydSf57SRtcQ  Ukraine Has Biological Research Facilities, Concerned Russian Forces May Seek To Gain Control: US], Mar 11, 2022.</ref>]]
[[Ukraine]] has no control over the military bio-laboratories on its own territory. According to the 2005 Agreement between the [[US Department of Defense]] and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government is prohibited from public disclosure of sensitive information about the US program and Ukraine is obliged to transfer to the DoD dangerous [[pathogen]]s for biological research.<ref>https://2001-2009.state.gov/documents/organization/95251.pdf</ref>  The [[Pentagon]] has been granted access to certain state secrets<ref>Likely the identities of US contacts and counterparts in the Ukranian government with knowledge of the arrangements and authority to act in a given situation.</ref> of Ukraine in connection with the projects under their agreement. 

Only three laboratories in Ukraine had the required safety criteria to undertake the type of research they were doing, according to the [[Russian]] military.  Captured Ukrainian government documents point to a series of problems at one of those sites in [[Odessa]].

Lieutenant General [[Igor Kirillov]], the head of the Radioactive, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces, accused the [[Kyiv regime]] of carrying out “inhumane experiments” on Ukrainian patients and of launching a biological attack against the [[Lugansk Peoples Republic]] in early May 2022. Other evidence suggests that when Russia moved soldiers into Ukraine in February 2022, attempts were made to weaponize [[drone]]s to spread [[pathogen]]s and to destroy compromising materials.  In response to the revelations by the [[Russian Investigative Committee]], the Pentagon fessed up in June 2022 to funding 46 biological research facilities in Ukraine over the last 20 years.<ref>https://greatgameindia.com/pentagon-admits-biolabs-ukraine/</ref> Gen. Kirillov was assassinated in a [[terrorist]] attack in [[Moscow]] in December 2024.

Two years before the [[NATO war in Ukraine]] started, [[CGTN]] discussed US biolabs around the world.<ref>https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-11/Biolabs-around-the-world-QpgMAnwV0I/index.html</ref><ref>https://newsaf.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-16/Time-to-reveal-what-s-going-on-in-U-S-biolabs-QwpxrRTI7C/index.html</ref><ref>https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-21/U-S-deployed-over-200-military-biological-laboratories-worldwide-QFtLkqhuVy/index.html</ref><ref>https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-04-30/The-U-S-needs-to-open-up-about-its-biological-labs-in-the-former-USSR-Q6ud6hO84E/index.html</ref><ref>https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-11/Do-U-S-biolabs-hold-up-to-scrutiny--Qp3jQrmvoQ/index.html</ref><ref>https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-06-11/Global-netizens-reveal-growing-list-of-U-S-bio-security-labs-ReT49fqZEs/index.html</ref>

===Gain of function===
In a 2012 scientific paper, [[Dr. Anthony Fauci]] of the U.S. [[National Institutes of Health]] argued that the alleged benefits resulting from gain of function research outweighed the risks.<ref>https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/1398286881306128402</ref>  On October 17, 2014, the [[Obama administration]] announced a moratorium on gain-of-function research.<ref>https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/10/17/doing-diligence-assess-risks-and-benefits-life-sciences-gain-function-research</ref>  The moratorium was lifted by the [[Obama]] [[White House]] in January 2017, eleven days before [[President Trump]] was sworn into office.

In March 2018, [[Peter Daszak]]'s [[EcoHealth Alliance]] (EHA) submitted a funding request to the [[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (DARPA) for bat coronavirus research called Operation Defuse.  It was rejected as too dangerous.<ref>https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1480740626161414145</ref>  DARPA gave as the reason's for rejection:<ref>https://assets.ctfassets.net/syq3snmxclc9/5OjsrkkXHfuHps6Lek1MO0/5e7a0d86d5d67e8d153555400d9dcd17/defuse-project-rejection-by-darpa.pdf</ref>
{{quotebox-float|''DRASTIC independently assesses that the tone of the proposal (see for instance the ‘our cave complex’) and the deep suggested involvement of some of the WIV parties ([[Shi Zheng Li]] employed half-time for 3 years - paid via the grant - and invited to DARPA headquarters at [[Arlington, Virginia|Arlington]]), may not have helped either - especially in the absence of any DURC [Duel Use Research of Concern] risk mitigation program.''

''It is clear that the proposed DEFUSE project led by Peter Daszak could have put local communities at risk by failing to consider the following issues:''

- Gain of Function 

- Dual Use Research of Concern 

- Vaccine epitope coverage 

- Regulatory requirements 

- ELSI (ethical, legal, and social issues) 

- Data Usage}}
[[File:Govt Advisors SHRED Documents Detailing Fauci Obama-Era Work With Wuhan Lab.PNG|right|275px|thumb|In February 2022 it was reported that government advisors shredded documents detailing the Obama administration's work with the Wuhan Lab.]]
Fauci however, cast aside the [[Pentagon]]'s concerns and picked up the project, funding to be continued at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and in [[North Carolina]].  Fauci's reasoning was that the probability of a pandemic arising in nature was greater than a viral pathogen escaping from a lab, or his trusted communist partners in the [[Peoples Liberation Army]] using it as an offensive biological weapon.<ref>https://youtu.be/_Rt_dcAh8JI</ref>

==China==
China agreed to the Biological Weapons Convention in 1984, but both academics and government agencies have asserted that the regime is a world leader in [[bioweapon]] production.<ref>https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/questions-surround-canadian-shipment-of-deadly-viruses-to-china-66254</ref>

James Giordano, a neurology professor at Georgetown University and senior fellow in biowarfare at the U.S. Special Operations Command, said China’s growing investment in bio-science, looser ethics around gene-editing and other cutting-edge technology and integration between government and academia raise the spectre of deadly pathogens being weaponized.<ref>https://edmontonjournal.com/health/bio-warfare-experts-question-why-canada-was-sending-lethal-viruses-to-china/wcm/fce2a521-4ce1-4eb0-8ccf-43f165713c0b/</ref>  In a 2015 academic paper Dany Shoham, a biological and chemical warfare expert at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University asserts that more than 40 Chinese facilities are involved in bio-weapon production.<ref>https://idsa.in/system/files/jds/jds_9_2_2015_DanyShoham.pdf</ref>

===SARS CoV-2===
[[File:Covid 19 bioweapon.PNG|right|350px|thumb|Leaked Chinese document.]]
:{{See also|Coronavirus}}
[[COVID-19]] was created in a laboratory by the Chinese [[People's Liberation Army]] and fine-tuned as a bioweapon.  It was specifically designed to be highly contagious, but often [[asymptomatic]], have low lethality, but produce uncontrollable variants and possessing characteristics providing plausible deniability as a bioweapon.

According to [[Chinese military doctrine]], such bioweapons are used prior to a declaration of war for political or international strategic needs, where the use of which can be denied. The intent, according to [[leak]]ed documents, being: "Even if the academic evidence, virological evidence, and animal experiment data could possibly prove (that the virus comes from the lab), we can just deny it, stop (investigation), suppress (scholars), make sure the international organizations and honest people’s work is futile.”

A fully formed sample of COVID-19 was ready for testing in early 2019, while a parallel [[vaccine]] program was underway.

Scientists from the [[Wuhan Institute of Virology]] were chosen to participate in non-human primate (monkeys) transmission testing, simulated coronavirus release and response exercises such as at Wuhan’s Tianhe airport in September 2019 and an actual test release of COVID-19 at the 2019 Military World Games from October 18–27, 2019.<ref>https://ccnationalsecurity.org/more-evidence-leaked-from-china-on-the-deliberate-release-of-covid-19-by-the-chinese-military/</ref>

==History==
Biological warfare is nothing new to [[Communist China]]. Indeed, the [[Peoples Republic of China]] was born out of a nation that had suffered biological warfare attacks.  Biological warfare, and other advances in science and technology, is considered modern warfare under the Chinese Communist Party and the Peoples Liberation Army military doctrine.

===Second Sino-Japanese War===
:{{See also|Second Sino-Japanese War}}
After the Japanese occupied the city of Shenyang (formerly Mukden in the [[Manchu]] language) in an event known as the [[Mukden Incident]] on Sept. 18, 1931, extending Japanese control over large areas in northeastern China, the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) fought alongside Japanese invaders to defeat troops of the [[Republic of China]] (KMT).<ref>https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2016/07/02/truth-of-mao-zedongs-collusion-with-the-japanese-army-1/</ref>

The Japanese set up a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit in [[Harbin]]. Unit 731 and its affiliated units  were involved in research, development and experimental deployment of epidemic-creating biowarfare weapons in assaults against the Chinese populace (both military and civilian) throughout World War II. Plague-infected fleas, bred in the laboratories of Unit 731 and Unit 1644, were spread by low-flying airplanes upon Chinese cities, including coastal Ningbo and Changde, [[Hunan]] Province, in 1940 and 1941.<ref name="ciadoc" /> This military aerial spraying killed tens of thousands of people with [[bubonic plague]] epidemics. An expedition to [[Nanjing|Nanking]] involved spreading [[Typhoid fever|typhoid]] and paratyphoid germs into the wells, marshes, and houses of the city, as well as infusing them into snacks to be distributed among the locals. Epidemics broke out shortly after, to the elation of many researchers, where it was concluded that paratyphoid fever was "the most effective" of the pathogens.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://the-eye.eu/public/concen.org/Sheldon%20H.%20Harris%20-%20Factories%20of%20Death%20-%20Japanese%20Biological%20Warfare%2C%201932-1945%2C%20and%20the%20American%20Cover-Up%20%28pdf%29%20-%20roflcopter2110%20%5BWWRG%5D/Sheldon%20H.%20Harris%20-%20Factories%20of%20Death%20-%20Japanese%20Biological%20Warfare%20%28pdf%29%20-%20roflcopter2110%20%5BWWRG%5D.pdf|title=Factories of Death |last=Harris|first=Sheldon|page=77}}</ref><ref>Barenblatt, Daniel. ''A Plague Upon Humanity: the Secret Genocide of Axis Japan's Germ Warfare Operation'', HarperCollins, 2004. {{ISBN|0-06-018625-9}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

At least 12 large-scale field trials of biological weapons were performed, and at least 11 Chinese cities were attacked with biological agents. An attack on Changda in 1941 reportedly led to approximately 10,000 biological casualties and 1,700 deaths among ill-prepared Japanese troops, with most cases due to cholera.<ref name="histpersp" /> Japanese researchers performed tests on prisoners with [[bubonic plague]], [[cholera]], [[smallpox]], [[botulism]], and other diseases.<ref>[https://fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/bw/ Biological Weapons Program-Japan] Federation of American Scientists</ref> This research led to the development of the defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb used to spread bubonic plague.<ref>[http://www.centurychina.com/wiihist/germwar/731rev.htm Review of the studies on Germ Warfare] Tien-wei Wu ''A Preliminary Review of Studies of Japanese Biological Warfare and Unit 731 in the United States''</ref> Some of these bombs were designed with [[porcelain]] shells, an idea proposed by Ishii in 1938.

Due to pressure from numerous accounts of the bio-warfare attacks, [[Chiang Kai-shek]] sent a delegation of army and foreign medical personnel in November 1941 to document evidence and treat the afflicted. A report on the Japanese use of plague-infested fleas on Changde was made widely available the following year, but was not addressed by the Allied Powers until [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] issued a public warning in 1943 condemning the attacks.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biohazard: Unit 731 and the American Cover-Up (Page 5)|url=https://www.umflint.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Research_and_Sponsored_Programs/MOM/b.altheide.pdf|website=[[University of Michigan–Flint]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Guillemin|first=Jeanne|date=2017|editor-last=Friedrich|editor-first=Bretislav|editor2-last=Hoffmann|editor2-first=Dieter|editor3-last=Renn|editor3-first=Jürgen|editor4-last=Schmaltz|editor4-first=Florian|editor5-last=Wolf|editor5-first=Martin|title=The 1925 Geneva Protocol: China's CBW Charges Against Japan at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal|journal=One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences|language=en|publisher=Springer International Publishing|pages=273–286|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51664-6_15|isbn=9783319516646|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Anthrax===

[[Anthrax]] has become known as a biological weapon. It became notable in the news in 2001, due to anthrax scares caused by anthrax found in letters written to several media personalities and politicians, including then-Senate Minority Leader [[Tom Daschle]]. This occurred shortly after [[9/11]].  Twenty-two people developed anthrax infections, and five of them died.  Some of the survivors suffer from continuing serious health problems.  The strain of anthrax used in the attacks was first developed in a [[U.S. Army]] facility in Fort Detrick, [[Maryland]].  The wife of one of the victims, Robert Stevens, is suing the U.S. government for lax security.  She alleges that the anthrax came from the facility at Fort Detrick.

[[Russell Welch]] was an Arkansas State Police criminal investigator assigned to the [[Mena airport]] where he monitored air traffic and developed sources of information and methods to determine what drugs were being trafficked into the airport.<ref>https://youtu.be/WroCyLMZNjc</ref> Welch was exposed to military grade anthrax after he opened a letter which released electrostatically charged floating spores in his face, and his life was saved only after prompt diagnosis and treatment by a medical doctor.<ref>https://youtu.be/xo0pudaN97M</ref> Later the doctor's office was burglarized and test results and correspondence with the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta were stolen.

===Other events===
[[Smallpox]] may have been used as a biological weapon in North America in the 18th century.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/pox_weapon_01.shtml</ref>  During [[World War II]] Britain conducted experiments with anthrax as a biological weapon on Gruinard Island, [[Scotland]].<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsOJRxs_dTI</ref>

==See also==
*[[Covid-19 pandemic]]
* [[Bioterrorism]]

==References==
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[[Category:Weapons]]
[[Category:Coronavirus]]
[[Category:Russia-Ukraine War]]