There are literally tens of thousands of chemicals used daily in Australia for commercial and household purposes. There are over 400,000 chemical-based products on the market, which are used by some 570,000 workplaces and millions of Australian consumers. The vast majority of these chemical products have important and legitimate uses. However, in the wrong hands, some chemicals can be used to make lethal weapons.Terrorism remains a significant threat to Western societies, including Australia. While terrorists use a wide range of weapons to pursue their objectives, the ease of availability of chemicals in Australia makes homemade explosives an ideal weapon. In 2011, we saw the devastating effects of precursor chemicals when a homemade explosive device was detonated in Oslo, Norway, killing eight people and injuring 90. That bomb was created using chemical materials that are readily available in Australia, including fertilizer, nitromethane and aluminium.
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