Last week, the threat became even more evident when the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all crop dusters in the United States, because it was rumored that a possible chemical or biological attack might come in the way of stolen or hijacked crop dusting aircraft. Just how could a crop duster be used as a mode of attack is a question that is on many people's minds, as is the question, what exactly is chemical or biological warfare.
Crop dusting aircraft, for those who are not familiar with them, are small planes, designed to be highly maneuverable and to spray chemicals such as fertilizers and insecticides on crops as a part of modern agricultural processes. Such sprayers, however could be loaded with a chemical or biological agent, in liquid form, and sprayed over population centers or even rural areas, to spread disease or toxins on the land or population.
Chemical warfare is designed to introduce toxins into the environment which cause injury or death to those who come in contact with them. This form of warfare has its origins in World War I, when the forces of the German Empire used Mustard Gas to cause injury to the forces of the allies. Mustard gas is a toxin that causes blistering on the skin, severe irritation, and if inhaled, can cause death. Other chemical weapons developed by the military are such things as agent orange and even the old "hippie" favorite, LSD, which was designed to be introduced to water supplies of an enemy. There are preventatives available, most military organizations have them, but the civilian population would be vulnerable to an attack of this nature. There are other chemical agents that have negative effects on the human body as well, and as a result, most nations of the world decided long ago to forego the use of them in combat situations. Chemical weapons often depend on the wind to carry them, and one reason they were outlawed is because nations discovered that a sudden shift of wind direction could cause their weapon to attack their own troops.
Biological weapons, which have not been used in combat situations to any extensive degree are like chemical weapons, however instead of toxins, these weapons introduce bacteria or other disease producing organisms into the environment. Often these illnesses can cause epidemics in unprotected populations and in the case of many of these, there are no known preventatives. Not only that, but some of these agents do not show their effects for several months or even years, so the battle may already be over, when the attack occurs.
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