Poisons and Pestilence

In this bonus episode I am joined by Seth Carus, as we explore some of the earliest allegations of biological warfare- as well as the more recent modern developments, which transformed ancient fears, into Cold War era weapon systems.  

Do check out these two studies, I think they are great: 

Carus, W. Seth. "The history of biological weapons use: what we know and what we don't." Health security 13.4 (2015): 219-255.

Carus, W. Seth. "A century of biological-weapons programs (1915–2015): reviewing the evidence." The Nonproliferation Review 24.1-2 (2017): 129-153. 

And also thanks to Adrienne Mayor, who drew my attention to this work on the Caffa siege, and recent work on the spread of the Black Death in the 14th century more broadly. 

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/711596 

https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:50220/datastreams/CONTENT/content 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30176-2/fulltext

N.B my remarks on the ability of scientists to produce anthrax spores for the German programme in WW1 reliably has sparked some discussion. And I will return to this. Essentially, it is not currently clear if either purified / extracted/dried spores were employed- or else some form of wet suspension. The latter, which would have likely contained a mix of (likely denatured) vegetative b. anthracis and spores. Or else some form of purified spore suspension. I know right? 

In this episode I talk about Ian's experience as a Porton Down research volunteer as a serviceman during the 1980's. Ian is eager to contact other former veterans - please email be directly at Bwie20[@]bath.ac.uk. 

The most substantive publicly available report on this subject, which we are aware of, is published here:

[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Defence Internet | About Defence | Historical Survey of the Porton Down Servce Vounteer Programme 1939-1989 (nationalarchives.gov.uk) 

You can also find details of the cohort medical study here: The Porton Down Veterans Cohort Study | King's College London (kcl.ac.uk) 

In this episode we look at the history of bio-threat assessment. With a review provided by Michael Parker, who has collated a list of threat assessments produced over the past century. You can find further details on the project here! Do check it out!

https://cobrabiosecurity.org/

Further reading:

Sequence-Based Classification of Select Agents

Committee on Scientific Milestones for the Development of a Gene Sequence-Based Classification System for the Oversight of Select Agents

The Select Agent Regulations: Structure and Stricture

The Select Agent Regulations: Structure and Stricture | Georgetown Scientific Research Journal (gsrjournal.org) 

Opinion: Coronavirus and Regulating Access to High-Risk Pathogens

Opinion: Coronavirus and Regulating Access to High-Risk Pathogens | The Scientist Magazine® (the-scientist.com) 

Comment from Parker, Michael

Regulations.gov

Improving U.S. Biosafety and Biosecurity: Revisiting Recommendations from the Federal Experts Security Advisory Panel and the Fast Track Action Committee on Select Agent Regulations

Improving U.S. Biosafety and Biosecurity: Revisiting Recommendations from the Federal Experts Security Advisory Panel and the Fast Track Action Committee on Select Agent Regulations | Applied Biosafety (liebertpub.com)

Find Andrej's work over at: https://www.youtube.com/@cbrnacademy 

And the video is available here

https://youtu.be/Xf3vW3pWIm8?si=-Mpz5eNteHG61o84 

All clips are from the following trailers. Used under fair usage. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWlNe1-5wb8&t=9s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWB6Ufh4O98 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtKMEAXyPkg&t=25s 

In this episode I discuss pathogens, as well as security screening in the gene synthesis industry- with someone who isn't that sectors namesake- but has done a lot of work relevant to it: Gene Godbold, from Signature Science LLC. 

Another movie special !  The expanse- and the space fungus hypothesis!  With Dr Emily Ricotta. 

https://www.emilyricotta.com/

I do not own the right to the trailer, which is used under normal critique and review exemptions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0QwBp_da28 

In this movie review special Gwyn Winfield discusses the series 'Fallout'- and touch on the depiction of the environmental effects of nuclear weapons- among other things. Fallout is available on Prime Video. 

Gwyn's magazine: https://cbrneworld.com/ 

Trailer audio used under fair usage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZwLYEVUK8 (Prime Video). 

In this episode we examine some 19th century chemical warfare plans, which were a prelude to the first large scale use of gas warfare in WW1. 

Book link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Admirals-Secret-Weapon-Dundonald-Stephenson/dp/B017AJTSBU 

In this episode, I am joined by Charles Stephenson, who discusses the use of chemical weapons by Italian invaders in the war against Ethiopia in the campaign of 1935-6. 

You can find the book he recently published on this topic here: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mussolini-Mustard-Gas-Fascist-Way/dp/1399051660