Biological Terrorism Perception Paper

Biological Terrorism Perception Paper

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Biological Terrorism Perception Paper

Introduction

The act alone is defined as taking certain unlawful and intimidating measures against civilians on the basis of unreasonable political aims. Similarly, biological terrorism is stated as using infectious pathogens, fungal, bacterial infections, and certain toxins that are produced from living organisms and are used against a particular population. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the goals of biological terrorism and the potential threat it poses to people while analyzing certain activities that affect the public's perception of risk (Denovan et al. 2017). It would identify some examples of biological threats that are used against a target population in the past. Moreover, the discussion would describe how this threat affects society as a whole. Lastly, the paper would include or enlist certain ways in which the public's perception of biological threats is usually mitigated. The essay would overall include credible sources that would support the paper and analyze the topic by elaborating the goals of biological terrorism.

Discussion

Identification

Warfare alone is a damaging aspect that brings catastrophe and sorrow amongst a group of people. During this time, many attempts have been made to damage the security and peace of the people through various biological threats. The most primary and highlighted goal of biological terrorism is the destruction of all tangible economic progress and unbalancing the stability between the economy through pushing on with these factors. Biological terrorism is mostly targeted through infecting human livestock or other ecosystems that have a direct link with people such as medicine. The potential risk of these activities to the public is tremendously real and insurmountable at times. Some potential and past biological threats involve the use of various chemical agents such as the ones used in the air transportation system. These are referred to as fast-acting chemical agents, delayed-action agents, or slow-acting yet contagious agents. Another example of a potential threat can be identified by noticing some toxic and lethal gases, such as Chlorine, Hydrogen cyanide, Sulfur mustard, etc.

This potential threat has a significant effect on the wellbeing of the society as it is majorly targeted through the resources that are being used by the target audience at large. These resources can be identified as anything such as food, medicine, environment, etc. Extremists often use these biological agents against civilian populations to achieve a political agenda against a certain aspect. This is a severe public health emergency which can be sustained through early detection and rapid investigation to such attacks (Das, & Kataria, 2010). It would entirely and majorly involve the role of health epidemiologists who would determine the magnitude of the risk that bioterrorism poses to a targeted nation. Engaging in emergency preparedness activities may solve many such outbreaks and minimize the risk factor. The only three ways to mitigate the public's perception of risk of biological threats are through focusing on prevention, response, and recovery (Issues, 2002).

Conclusion

The aforementioned analysis of biowarfare indicates the criticality of significant potential threats that are the center of such terrorist activities. Bioterrorism is, in fact, the most horrendous form of destruction that comes in masses and damages not only human lives, but also different economic resources that are being consumed by a large number of populations. Through understanding, the threat and the definition of biological terrorism alone can help governments find and tackle such activities which are targeting the wellbeing and health of the local public. Minimizing the risk would inevitably lead to constraining bioterrorism activities. The discussion above includes some examples of past biological threats that include different chemical agents. Moreover, it consists of the target air transportation that was mainly used for various bioterrorism purposes. So focusing on saving that could save many lives in return along with stopping the damage.

References

Das, S., & Kataria, V. (2010). Bioterrorism : A Public Health Perspective. Medical Journal Armed Forces India, 66(3), 255-260. doi:10.1016/s0377-1237(10)80051-6

Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4921253/

Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., Parker, A., & Clough, P. (2017). Perception of Risk and Terrorism-Related Behavior Change: Dual Influences of Probabilistic Reasoning and Reality Testing. Frontiers In Psychology, 8. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01721

Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5633603/

Issues, N. (2002). Prevention, Response, and Recovery. National Academies Press (US). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221142/