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Biological warfare

"Biological attack" redirects here. For the use of biological agents by terrorists, see bioterrorism. For other uses, see Bioattack.
"Germ Warfare" redirects here. For the M*A*S*H episode, see Germ Warfare (M*A*S*H). For the Dexter's Laboratory episode, see Germ Warfare (Dexter's Laboratory).

Weapons of mass destruction
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Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war.[1] Biological weapons (often termed "bio-weapons", "biological threat agents", or "bio-agents") are living organisms or replicating entities (i.e. viruses, which are not universally considered "alive"). Entomological (insect) warfare is a subtype of biological warfare.

Biological warfare is subject to a forceful normative prohibition.[2][3] Offensive biological warfare in international armed conflicts is a war crime under the 1925 Geneva Protocol and several international humanitarian law treaties.[4][5] In particular, the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) bans the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons.[6][7] In contrast, defensive biological research for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes is not prohibited by the BWC.[8]

Biological warfare is distinct from warfare involving other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear warfare, chemical warfare, and radiological warfare. None of these are considered conventional weapons, which are deployed primarily for their explosive, kinetic, or incendiary potential.

Biological weapons may be employed in various ways to gain a strategic or tactical advantage over the enemy, either by threats or by actual deployments. Like some chemical weapons, biological weapons may also be useful as area denial weapons. These agents may be lethal or non-lethal, and may be targeted against a single individual, a group of people, or even an entire population. They may be developed, acquired, stockpiled or deployed by nation states or by non-national groups. In the latter case, or if a nation-state uses it clandestinely, it may also be considered bioterrorism.[9]

Biological warfare and chemical warfare overlap to an extent, as the use of toxins produced by some living organisms is considered under the provisions of both the BWC and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Toxins and psychochemical weapons are often referred to as midspectrum agents. Unlike bioweapons, these midspectrum agents do not reproduce in their host and are typically characterized by shorter incubation periods.[10]

  1. ^ Berger, Tamar; Eisenkraft, Arik; Bar-Haim, Erez; Kassirer, Michael; Aran, Adi Avniel; Fogel, Itay (2016). "Toxins as biological weapons for terror-characteristics, challenges and medical countermeasures: a mini-review". Disaster and Military Medicine. 2: 7 MI. doi:10.1186/s40696-016-0017-4. ISSN 2054-314X. PMC 5330008. PMID 28265441.
  2. ^ Bentley, Michelle (2024). The Biological Weapons Taboo. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-889215-1.
  3. ^ Bentley, Michelle (18 October 2023). "The Biological Weapons Taboo". War on the Rocks.
  4. ^ Rule 73. The use of biological weapons is prohibited. Archived 12 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Customary IHL Database, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)/Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ Customary Internal Humanitarian Law, Vol. II: Practice, Part 1 (eds. Jean-Marie Henckaerts & Louise Doswald-Beck: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 1607–10.
  6. ^ "Biological Weapons Convention". United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  7. ^ Alexander Schwarz, "War Crimes" in The Law of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force: The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Archived 12 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine) (eds. Frauke Lachenmann & Rüdiger Wolfrum: Oxford University Press, 2017), p. 1317.
  8. ^ Article I, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
  9. ^ Wheelis M, Rózsa L, Dando M (2006). Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945. Harvard University Press. pp. 284–293, 301–303. ISBN 978-0-674-01699-6.
  10. ^ Gray C (2007). Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare. Phoenix. pp. 265–266. ISBN 978-0-304-36734-4.

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