Companies are also working to protect soldiers through the destruction or neutralization of chemical and biological agents.
Castro has access to all the chemical and biological agents necessary to develop germ and chemical weapons.
U.S. officials predicted before the war that at least 100 metric tons of weapon-ready chemical and biological agents would be found.
Unlike a search for traces of radioactivity that can be done very quickly, looking for traces of chemical and biological agents can take longer, adding to the risk.
BBC: Syria chemical weapons claims: UK and US tread cautiously
Worse still, according to the Iraq Survey Group, Saddam's planning envisioned placing toxic chemical and biological agents in aerosol cans and perfume sprayers for shipment to the United States and Europe.
Chemical and biological agents can wipe out entire populations, but first they must be placed in an effective delivery system, such as a bomb or warhead fitted with an aerosol diffuser that will spread its plagues or poisons before the weapon explodes.
Altogether lost amidst the much-ballyhooed headlines that the Survey Group discovered "No WMDs" was its uncovering of an inconvenient fact: At the time of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Saddam Hussein had active, albeit low-level, production lines for both chemical and biological agents.
Since the regime made no appreciable effort to distinguish which contained high explosives and which were loaded with chemical or biological agents, establishing exactly what is in such facilities is a time-consuming and dangerous task.
Iraq, however, then circulated a report at the UN on October 7th, insisting that its capabilities to produce biological and chemical agents were destroyed during the 1991 Gulf war.
The UN has never made that list of companies and all the details public, but it's known that chemical precursors for chemical weapons and tubes for missiles and biological agents, including anthrax samples, were sent by American suppliers.
Novel nanosensors will allow for the rapid detection, diagnosis and prescription of antidotes to deadly biological or chemical agents--such technologies could ensure safety of both armed forces and civilian populations.
To be effective deterrents in the future, our nuclear weapons must have greatly increased accuracy, reduced yields, specialized capabilities (such as deep earth penetration) and tailored effects (such as ability to neutralize chemical-biological agents)....In a dangerous world, with many states and organizations committed to acquiring and using nuclear weapons, it would be unwise for the United States not to make our nuclear deterrent force more effective.
Another need is better diagnostic tests and sensors that can detect and identify biological agents or chemical agents early in a terror attack before there are many casualties.
Some details were already known from a chemical engineer who defected and, in 2000, described an accident involving biological agents.
Devices are already available on the commercial market that can manufacture lethal chemical agents (and, for that matter, toxin and biological weapons) without specialized or dedicated facilities.
The job will not be easy: three years ago, before inspectors were blocked, they had turned up the important bits of Iraq's nuclear weapons programme, destroyed most (not all) of its missiles, disposed of thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons and their ingredients, and they were closing in on its production of nerve agents and its best-kept biological secrets.
ECONOMIST: No peace in the Middle East without disarming Iraq
应用推荐