Toxin weapons: from World War I to jihadi terrorism

Abstract

The history of biological and chemical agents studied and produced as weapons has been well documented in different publications, including biomedical journals. Toxins are chemical substances of biological origin. Therefore, toxins that have been studied as weapons are sometimes considered chemical or biological warfare agents, and also included in the “mid-spectrum agents” concept. Their high toxicity is their main property as weapons, while the difficulties of extraction/synthesis and effective dissemination to cause a large number of casualties are the most important drawbacks. This article aims at explaining the history of toxins as weapons since the First World War until today, when there is a high concern of possible terrorist attacks with weapons of mass destruction, especially by Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups.

Keywords::

• Toxin weapons
• weapons of mass destruction
• biological warfare agents
• chemical warfare agents
• bioterrorism
• chemical terrorism

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.