Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Shigella
spp,
Salmonella
spp, and
Y. pestis
, bacte-
rial cultures were thrown directly into homes,
and also sprayed from aircraft [22,24]. Plague
was developed as a biological weapon through
laboratory-bred fleas feeding on plague-infected
rats. These infected fleas were then harvested and
released from aircraft over Chinese cities. Plague
initiation was begun by the release of up to 15
million fleas during aerial attacks, together with
rice and wheat [22]. It was hoped that the grain
would attract the local rat population, as rats
serve as carriers for infected fleas that transmit
plague to a human population. Epidemic plague
has been attributed to these attacks, but rigorous
epidemiological or microbiological verification is
not available.
In 1945, General Ishii ordered the labs of Unit
731 burned to the ground. At the end of World War
II, the US granted amnesty to those Japanese scien-
tists who had participated in the research on the
condition that these scientists disclose all informa-
tion accumulated during their programs to the US
government. This situation likely developed as the
US and USSR also competed for German rocket
experts. In 1945, 22 former biological weapons
scientists in Japan were interviewed. The infor-
mation they provided was not particularly useful,
since the data could not be quantitated [24]. It
was discovered that, in 1945, the Japanese BW
program at Unit 731 had stockpiled 400 kg of
anthrax to be used in a specially designed fragmen-
tation bomb. Unit 731 and its satellite camps may
have killed as many as 250,000 Chinese during its
existence, but the total number cannot be verified
[25,26].
One bizarre anecdote to Unit 731's legacy could
have brought biological warfare directly to the US
during WWII. From November 1944 to April 1945,
during Operation Fugo (wind ship), 9300 balloons
were released from Japan to travel the Gulf Stream
to the west [27]. They were equipped with incen-
diary and anti-personnel bombs, and flew as far
East as Michigan and Texas. Six people were killed
in Oregon [27,28]. There were fears that these
balloons could be loaded with biological weapons
[29]. During July 1945, Unit 731 was involved
in another plan, codenamed Cherry Blossoms at
2.8 World War I—US Research
Although never used, tests conducted in the US
during this time revealed that ricin toxin derived
from castor beans could have military applications.
A 1918 report reads: “These experiments show
two important points: (1) easily prepared prepara-
tions of ricin can be made to adhere to shrapnel
bullets, (2) there is no loss in toxicity of firing
and even with the crudest method of coating the
bullets, not a very considerable loss of the material
itself…It is not unreasonable to suppose that every
wound inflicted by a shrapnel bullet coated with
ricin would produce a serious casualty…Many
wounds which would otherwise be trivial would
be fatal.” [13].
2.9 World War II—Japan
From 1932-1945, Japan conducted biological
warfare research in occupied Manchuria under
the direction of Generals Shiro Ishii and Kitano
Misaji [22]. Unit 731, a biological warfare research
facility located near the town of Pingfan (Harbin),
was the center of the Japanese biological weapons
development program and contained 150 build-
ings, five satellite camps, and a staff of more
than 3000 scientists and technicians. Additional
units were located at Mukden, Changchun, and
Nanking. Prisoners at these camps were infected
with pathogens including
Ba. anthracis, Neisseria
meningitidis, Shigella
sp.,
Vibrio cholerae
, and
Yersinia pestis
[23]. The first use of biological
weapons by the Japanese was the contamination of
the Soviet water supply at the city of Nomonhan
along the Mongolian border with typhoid [22].
Eventually, over 3000 prisoners died as a result
of experimental infection or subsequent execution
during the Japanese program between 1932 and
1945 [22].
During war crimes prosecution, participants in
the Japanese program captured by the Soviet Union
during World War II admitted to a dozen large-
scale field trials of biological weapons. At least 11
Chinese cities were attacked with biological agents.
Water supplies and food items were contami-
nated with cultures of
Ba. anthracis, V. cholerae,
