BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AS A TOOL OF TERRORISTS - BIOTHERORISM

Abstract

The current threat of terrorism is different from the past, visible through the changed tactics, the increased level of activities, the more professionally coordinated attacks with increased intensity, as well as the transnational reach of their actions. Terrorists have become aware that the global spread of fear, their primary goal, is directly linked to one of the highest human premises - human life and health, which can be achieved through the worldwide spread of infectious diseases and viruses that will definetly endanger national and international security. They also know that development of biological-chemical weapons is almost impossible to monitor, because it differs very little (technically and instrumentally) from the laboratory production of vaccines for medical use. On the other hand, the production of a pathogen is quite simple because small instruments are needed, that are easy to smuggle, and a small amount of pathogen is enough to cause serious destructive effects and consequences in the population.