Clostridium Botulinum, From Beauty to Beast, Research Paper Example

The chronicles of Bioterrorism chemical warfare has been in existence for centuries where cultures use some type of biological weapon. Bioterrorism is the malicious attack that spreads virus, bacteria, or agents causing death to the environment including plants, flowers, and people. There are three ways the bioterrorist can spread the chemical agents which are food, through the air and water. The government has spent many years and finances to prevent mass destruction from nuclear attacks. However, the new threat in plain sight to the American population in this millennium is not plutonium, not nuclear weapons, not bombs, but botulism. Botox is the name form botulism toxin that is commonly used as a beauty enhancement. Today, the botulism toxin is the more feared chemical weapon on this planet because now the bioterrorist have access and knowledge. In this new technology advanced era, the bioterrorist has real time access to chemical agents, nuclear weapons and other catastrophic chemical weapons to become a biological weapon against any country (Cieslak,Eitzen & Kortepeter, 2001).

Many people do not associate the word Botulism with beauty. Botulism may not be a word that most families will not understand or have knowledge. However, botulism is known as Botox, which is a protein that is produced by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. The Botulinum toxin is a substance that damages the nervous system created by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. This protein is considered the most poisonous elements/proteins in the world that has been used in chemical warfare. The protein has some medicinal uses for treating facial wrinkles and painful muscle contractions. Many plastic surgeons use the Botox for women who wish to keep their youthful beauty, however, today botulism is one the most feared bioterrorism weapons in the world.

The consensus from the media and the public is the United States is not prepared for a bioterrorism attack using Botulism. In past, the United States Post Office has been shut down because someone delivered a mail parcel of documented Ricin to the President of the United States. The United States government does not have the proper bioterrorism strategy in place and they lack the resources to counteract, halt, and contain future bioterrorism strikes (Biotechnology Law Report, 2009,pg. 35). The public was sent into a frenzy of fear because of one bioterrorism letter. It appeared the FBI, CIA and Bioterrorism team did not have a plan in place to address this breach.

The future appears to be bleak because the government has admitted that the United States is vulnerable. Our society has enjoyed the protection, comfort, and reassurance by the government that we are protected from any type of terrorism. There is much to be feared in this millennium because Syria has recently used chemical weapons on the troops and on their own people. Nothing would prevent them from using chemical weapons on the United States. The United States Bioterrorism Committee has determined that there is evidence that terrorist groups believe the United States is not prepared for attacks of Mass Destruction, which could happen as early as 2013(Biotechnology Law Report,2009,pg. 35).

Feared Threat

The threat of bioterrorism, has been push aside as non-threatening bioterrorist weapon. This real threat has reached epic proportions since the attack on the United States 911. In order to truly understand the true deadly impact of botulinum toxins as a bioterrorist threat, just one bead of the Botulinum toxins into the atmosphere could result in thousands of deaths(Shukla & Sharma,2005). The government has been preparing for bomb attacks for many years without bolstering the United States efforts in preparation for the bioterrorism clostridium botulinum threats. There are several types of threats the United States must start more preparation and planning. The first step would be creating a vaccination that combats any airborne chemical weapon. The US has the technology and the medical community to develop vaccinations for all the American people. The vaccination effectiveness is considered one the best medical advancements that could counteract chemical warfare. The vaccinations have already shown the ability to counteract childhood diseases such as chicken pox and the measles. Historically, the chicken pox or measles was an automatic death sentence because both diseases. Vaccinations would be an excellent preventative measure to combat chemical warfare because both the measles and chicken pox is a virus that infects the body.

The threat could limit the amount of damage to the US citizens during a Clostridium Botulinum chemical weapon attack. However, in order to effectively combat the chemical weapon threats, the vaccinations must be administrated as a mandatory measure for all Americans. The vaccinations should began with the public health officials including this as a mandatory shot for children to enter any school in the United States. This would ensure that future generations survive because the youngest children would be protected first from a future bioterrorist chemical attack. However, the education must continue because the effectiveness of the chemical warfare vaccination may lead to a false sense of security by the American people. In this era the medical industry must become educated about biological and chemical warfare, this is imperative because the lack of education of these respiratory warfare could lead to many people losing their lives for lack of preparation(Greenfield,et.al,2002) The government should continue to provide budgets for the prevention, educationand containment of a Clostridium Botulinum attack.

National Security

The National Security has expressed an interest in making sure all Americans understand the signs and symptoms of Clostridium botulinum chemical agents because they can be the first alarms of a bioterrorism attack. The United States needs to bring about a new website that shares the plausible symptoms of the botulism chemical agents. The agent is deadly with some very common reactions such as blurred vision, slurred speech, dry mouth, and problems with swallowing. The consensus from the bioterrorism community scientist that this chemical agent could go undetected while sending millions to their deaths before the United States can counteract. This is why stringent measures must be put in place globally to contain, treat, and prevent the biological chemical attacks. In the past, the American people have complained about the Patriot Act allowing the government in secrecy to access confidential and private information in the name of National Security. The government should not be leading the Bioterrorism prevention measures because of their history of keeping beneficial chemical warfare program secretive. As a result, it would be more conducive to allow the global scientific community to lead the way to chemical prevention solutions(Bailey,2012).The threat of bioterrorism has become a global issue with the National Security leading the way.

Chemical versus Bomb

The United States has been preparing for different types of mass destruction such as bombs and nuclear attacks. The technology that has been created based on discovery or notification that any country has launched a bomb, missiles, or nuclear attack by sea, air, or land. In truth, bomb explosion can be addressed in record time by the government because the past preparation of previous US Military planning and preventative programs. However, a chemical attack or a Clostridium botulinum biological attack would devastate the country including all neighboring countries. The John Hospitals Hospital has a public message on the catastrophic and deadly dangers of Botulinum toxin and the ease of access of the primary ingredients to create a biological weapon (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2001). In the event of the world’s destruction, the President has a secret mountain that will preserve the future of the American people. However, a massive biological attack would ensure no life would be spared, if the contamination spread into the airwaves throughout the planet. In addition, to the damage to the ecological system which would take decades for mother nature to recover. After an explosion or a chemical like assault, the most awful outcomes are over very fast.

The scope of the destruction can be analyzed with the number of deaths and wounds however, the use of vaccination will allow the country to heal. The use of vaccinations to treat the remaining population, does not guarantee others will be saved. That is why it is important to work with the National Security to put strong and effective preventive measures in place. The best defense to bioterrorism is uncovering methods to systematically fight against Bioterrorism in the United States and internationally. The International community has acknowledge the threat of bioterrorism thus causing the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry to develop preventative measures against potential chemical weapons attacks(D’Agostino & Martin,2009).This would be the key purpose for our country to implement a vaccination program. Nevertheless , there are many disadvantages to this strategy . To start with , if our country were to evoke this course of action it would take a mass campaign to create all of the vaccines , choose which of them were truly worth providing , and obtaining the elements , and professionals to create the vaccines. Having a number of vaccines for each US citizen could be extremely hard, and cost taxpayers a large financial price.

Education

The United States government, environmental groups, world scientists, bioterrorism committees, National Security, and other countries are very aware of the bioterrorism threat. It is imperative to develop a visible contingency plan that will education the American people but also make the bioterrorist aware that the United States is on a high alert for chemical weapons. The chemical and biological warfare has passed the level of threat of mass destruction to immediate imminent danger because of improve global communication, advance technology, science advancements and chemistry allows bioterrorist to make the death weapons with relative ease (Orient,1989). The mission should be to education everyone concerning the dangers of chemical weapons attach mainly botulism toxin. The agencies that are responsible for educating the communities such as politicians, legislators, national security policy makers, Armed Forces and National Security are faced with a predicament relating to biological botulism chemical warfare.

The National Security and the scientific industry are well respected in the public eye concerning global or scientific information. That is the primary reason they should lead the educational efforts to bring information to the world and show the bioterrorist that preventative and contingency plans are in place. The scientists are concerned for the national and global safety because of new strands of Botulinum toxin could be lethal. The bioterrorist can get access to the ingredients required to build a mass destruction weapon. The report puts emphasis on the continue terrorist threats that have access to obtain weapons of mass destruction, nuclear implications and chemical agents to generate a massive number of deaths(Mair,2009). The National Security is developing programs and educational information that not just government based but includes the best scientist from all over the world to collaborate on finding a cure for the deadly biological threat. The global threat has reached the catastrophic levels that require all countries to collaborate and share science technology advances. In addition to building security and chemical prevention program that includes the private sector resources to build International scientific intelligence(Bouri, Franco, Gronvall, Rambhia & Watson,2009).

The scientific investigators have found new strands of the Botulinum toxin, which has cause for secrecy on the deadly combination to be withheld from the public, and more importantly the deadly strand being hidden from bioterrorist(Global Security Newswire Staff,2013). The biological education awareness programs should include educating the people, teachers, hospitals, clinics, police officers, firefighters and any educational institution from elementary to Post Secondary schools. In the event a chemical attack reached the United States, it would be days before the nation was aware of the botulism toxin in the atmosphere. The educational programs should include identification of the characteristics and symptoms of biological warfare. The America people can be the first defense with national education seminars, training, and literature. The educational seminars would help the medical community as well because the physicians would be one the first to treat the first indications of chemical agent’s contamination. The most critical stage in defending against chemical weapon attack using botulinum toxin would be how quickly a person can received medical attention after exposure. The more time that elapses, the less chance of survival(Arnon et.al, 2001).

The early detection by the community, government, scientist, schools, and the medical profession would save millions of lives. The longer it takes to detect the biological attack more lives will be lost. That is why the National Security and scientific community should attempt to adequately informed the world about responding, preventing and understanding the impact of biological attacks. It appears that lives will be saved if the emergency room doctors have an open communication channel to the National Security reporting any suspicious symptoms that could be biological. Many lives would be saved, if the same channels were open to firefighters and police officer as they are educated on early detection. The result would be thousands of lives would be saved in a timely fashion. There are some early detection methods can be utilized by the government to counteract a botulism toxin attack:

• Medical providers report daily potential chemical weapon attack
• Emergency room providers log and report potential chemical weapon attack
• Department of Disease Control monitoring of any unusual reports of chemical attacks
• Department Human Health and Services reports
• Global Bioterrorism Committee to report biological threats
• Firefighters direct reports of suspicious chemical symptoms
• Police officers reporting any suspicious chemical symptoms
• Community groups reporting symptoms of chemical warfare
• News Media saturating the airwaves with any potential threats
• National Security has an open line for reports
• America People can report potential threat by social network, phone and direct calls to Department of Disease control
• Push the panic button which will kept the American people and government prepared for an biological attack

Recommendations

The United States government needs to implement a mandatory chemical weapon program that ensures all Americans have to receive vaccinations that will combat any type of botulism attacks. The vaccinations cure for botulism should be assigned to several pharmaceutical organizations to spend the next five years developing some type of serum or anti-agent drug that can save the lives of the American people. The children should be the first group of citizens to receive the mandatory chemical agent vaccinations because they represent the future. In addition, younger children have not built their immune system enough to fight chemical agents. The mandatory vaccinations should be delivered by the public health sector to ensure all Americans will receive the vaccinations.

The second recommendation would that the National Security and scientific industry work together on educating the America people and the rest of the world concerning preventative measures for a biological attack. The fear of the biological attack can be easily be diffused with education. Many Americans become more afraid when they do not have enough information to protect their families. The educational delivery should be in newspaper, Internet, direct mail and any other media that can share biological weapons prevention, preparation and readiness. The scientific industry has the confidence of the public because most scientific companies or agencies are not considered bias, thus the delivery of education from this industry is imperative to send the message of the real threats of bioterrorism. One the greatest fears of any civilization are lack of knowledge because what they do not understand they will fear. The educational programs and vaccinations programs will give the public confidence that the America government is proactively addressing the potential and real threat of biological weapons warfare. The bacterium Clostridium botulinum is the new nuclear bomb except you will never hear it coming, it will not be a loud bang nor there any explosions. The biological weapons warfare is silent but the most deadly weapon on this earth. The writing is on the wall because if bioterrorist have already been testing the waters by sending Anthrax through the mail and the courage to send it to the White House. The United States need to listen because the prediction was in 2013 would be the next biological attack. In 2013, Syria release deadly toxins on soldiers. Enough has been said now it is time for education and preparation.

References

Arnon S., Schechter R, Inglesby T.V,Henderson, D.,Bartlett,J., Ascher, M., Tonat, K. (2001). Botulinum toxin as a biological weapon: Medical and public health management. JAMA. the Journal of the American Medical Association 2001; 285(8):1059-1070. doi:10.1001/jama.285.8.1059.

Bailey, R. (2012, May). Can censorship stop bioterrorism? Open science is the best defense against a deadly avian flu attack. Reason, 44(1), 50+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA285089614&v=2.1&u=20398_pclc&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=5171d27b6e436ab1dba595c738eb4b1c

Biotechnology Law Report.(2010,Feburary,10). Anti-bioterror efforts found wanting. Biotechnology Law Report 29.1.Academic OneFile. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/blr.2010.9986

Bouri, N., Franco, C., Gronvall, G. K., Rambhia, K. J., & Watson, M. (2009). Prevention of biothreats: a look ahead. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science, 7(4), 433+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA215788091&v=2.1&u=20398_pclc&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=15ebf07a2ef19cd734eff6d7b87ad0e6

Cieslak,T,Eitzen,E,& Kortepeter,G. (2001). Bioterrorism. Journal of Environmental Health,63.6

D’Agostino, M., & Martin, G. (2009). The bioscience revolution & the biological weapons threat: levers & interventions. Globalization and Health, 5, 3. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA195163506&v=2.1&u=20398_pclc&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=6b4f6692ade2cb9ba1e99fea533e56f4

Greenfield,R,Brown,B.,Brent,R.,Hutchins, J., Iandolo, J.Jackson,R., Bronz, M. (2002). Microbiological, biological, and chemical weapons warfare and terrorism. American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Volume 323-Issue 6-pp-326-340.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.(2001,Feburary,28). Johns Hopkins working group on civilian biodefense says botulinum toxin is a major biological weapons threat. Retrieved from http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2001/botulinum-toxin-release-2001.html

Mair, M. (2009). Biological threats among U.S. intelligence community’s greatest concerns. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science, 7(1), 1+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.doid=GALE%7CA200117840&v=2.1&u=20398_pclc&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=5d2a34f22fb2fc7841d3b82656de18fd

Orient J.M.(1989). Chemical and biological warfare. Should defenses be researched and deployed Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson. JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association 1989, 262(5):644-648

Shukla,H.D. & Sharma,S.K.(2005).Clostridium botulimum. A bug with beauty and weapon. Center of Marine Biotechnology. University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Vol. 31, No.1, Pages 11-18