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Biological Weapons: Limiting the Threat

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Abstract

"Biological warfare is probably the most serious direct threat to U.S. national security, and no one knows more about this threat than Joshua Lederberg."
-- Leslie H. Gelb, President, Council on Foreign Relations

"Biological Weapons: Limiting the Threat clearly emphasizes the importance and urgency of ongoing efforts to strengthen infectious disease surveillance and response capacity at the local, state, and national levels in order to ensure the timely detection, diagnosis, and containment of disease caused by bioterrorists."
— James M. Hughes, Director, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

"This book is on a subject that desperately needs more effective policy and more refined public understanding. It reviews the history of the subject, describes the current state of control efforts, and advances a number of ideas for improvement. These are all matters that will have to be more broadly absorbed if the potential threat is to be avoided and the opportunity to limit it realized."
--John Steinbruner, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

"The potential for the use of chemical and biological weapons represents one of the most dangerous national security concerns of the United States in the twenty-first century. This volume of articles, written by a wide range of experts, examines key issues related to biological weapons and contributes to a better understanding of their complex nature and efforts to minimize the potential for their use."
--Gail H. Cassell, Vice President, Infectious Diseases, Drug Discovery Research and Clinical Investigation, Eli Lilly and Company

"Biological Weapons: Limiting the Threat is essential reading for physicians, nurses, public health officials, and public safety personnel. It provides one of the more comprehensive and accurate collections of information on biological weapons and consequences of their use that I have read."
--Jerome M. Hauer, Director, New York City Mayor''s Office of Emergency Management

Contributors:
Suzanne Barth, Pamela Berkowsky, Kristin A. Birkness, Stephen Black, W. Russell Byrne, W. Seth Carus, Marie Chevrier, George W. Christopher, Theodore J. Cieslak, Richard Danzig, Edward M. Eitzen, Jr., Charles C. Engel, James R. Ferguson, Laurence R.Foster, David R. Franz, Arthur M. Friedlander, Carol S. Fullerton, Jeanne Guillemin, Charles E. Haley, Harry C. Holloway, David L. Hoover, John M. Horan, Martin Hugh-Jones, Peter B. Jahrling, Robert P. Kadlec, Akiko Kimura, Shellie A. Kolavic, Alexander Langmuir, John R. Livengood, Karl Lowe, Steven Mauvais, David J. McClain, Matthew Meselson, Ann E. Norwood, Julie A.Pavlin, Graham S. Pearson, Ilona Popova, Alexis Shelokov, Jeffrey D. Simon, Shauna L. Simons, Michael R. Skeels, Laurence Slutsker, Robert Sokolow, Robert V. Tauxe, Thomas J. Török, Jonathan B. Tucker, Robert J. Ursano, Victor Utgoff, Ann M. Vrtis, Robert P. Wise, Olga Yampolskaya, Allan P. Zellicoff, Raymond A. Zilinskas

Biological weapons pose a horrifying and growing threat to the United States and to the world in general. Revelations about Iraq's weapons research and the plans of the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan serve as frightening reminders of the potential for military or terrorist use of biological agents.

The essays in this book, many of which were originally published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examine the medical, scientific, and political dimensions of limiting the threat posed by biological weapons. The contributors consider the current threat posed by biological weapons, the history of attempts to control them, episodes in which biological agents have been used, Iraq's biological warfare program, and policies that the United States might pursue to reduce the threat.

Recommended citation

Lederberg, Joshua. “Biological Weapons: Limiting the Threat.” MIT Press, May 1, 1999

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The full text of this publication is available via MIT Press.