BioterrorismSalad Bars and Water Systems Are Easy Targets for Bioterrorists – and America’s Monitoring System Is Woefully Inadequate
I teach food and drug law at Saint Louis University’s Center for Health Law Studies. While monitoring pathogens likely to pose severe threats to public health, my colleagues and I spend a lot of time studying viruses and bacteria that are very hard to obtain, like anthrax or the plague. One less-known facet of bioterrorism, however, is that simpler pathogens like salmonella, a bacterium found in many types of food, can also be used to deliberately harm people. In fact, the largest bioterrorism attack in American history started at the salad bars of a handful of restaurants in the Pacific Northwest.
In October 2019, a House Homeland Security Committee subcommittee held a hearing entitled “Defending the Homeland from Bioterrorism: Are We Prepared?” The answer was a resounding no.
The experts testified that our biodefense system has been vulnerable and outdated for well over a decade. This might provoke worries about weaponizing disease-causing microorganisms, or pathogens, like Ebola or anthrax. But you should probably also take a moment to consider your lunch: The next threat might come not from a hard-to-come-by virus but from something as simple as food that has been deliberately contaminated.
I teach food and drug law at Saint Louis University’s Center for Health Law Studies. While monitoring pathogens likely to pose severe threats to public health, my colleagues and I spend a lot of time studying viruses and bacteria that are very hard to obtain, like anthrax or the plague. One less-known facet of bioterrorism, however, is that simpler pathogens like salmonella, a bacterium found in many types of food, can also be used to deliberately harm people. In fact, the largest bioterrorism attack in American history started at the salad bars of a handful of restaurants in the Pacific Northwest.
A primer on Bioterrorism
The Department of Homeland Security defines bioterrorism as the deliberate release of bacteria, viruses and toxins with the purpose of causing injury or other harm to people. Pathogens can be spread in multiple ways. Some travel through air or water. Others pass directly from person to person or through contact with infected animals. Last, but not least, food systems can be used to spread biological agents.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta classify bioterrorism agents into three categories. The classification is based on factors like ease of disease transmission and morbidity and mortality rates. Category A includes high-priority agents that can spread easily, result in high mortality rates and pose a risk to national security. Examples include smallpox and anthrax. Category B includes pathogens that are moderately easy to disseminate but don’t kill as many people as the microbes in Category A. These include cholera and pathogens causing viral encephalitis. Category C includes existing pathogens that could one day be engineered for purposes of bioterrorism, such as hantavirus or Nipah virus.
