AS Lt Col Neil Smith, of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, remarked during a debate at the recent BVA Congress (see pp 482-483 of this issue), the use, or planned use, of biological weapons is by no means new: it can be traced back at least as far as the siege of Kaffa in 1346, when human plague victims were catapulted over the city walls. Since then, there have been various alleged and documented incidents, from the First and Second World Wars, extending into the Cold War, with numerous research programmes being devoted to the issue. More recently, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11,2001, and the anthrax letters in the USA around the same time, have focused attention on the threat of biological agents being used for terrorist purposes. Given that such acts might potentially be directed at man via animals or, in view of their economic value or importance to the food supply, at animals directly, this is a subject in which the veterinary profession must clearly have an interest.
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