Agroterrorism In The 19th Century

The modern era of this day and age is under constant threat from new and expanding methods of conflict that is devastating our already deteriorating society- often segregated between the rich and the poor. Due to the steady increase of communication and travel, there is a correlation with the increase amount of fighting with age old ethnic rivalries and religious strife along with disputes over territory, resources and morals. However, with the considerable advancements in technology presented over the last century, the effects and devastation are more vast and noteworthy. Prior instances being the innovation of the Maxim Machine gun in the nineteenth century that took the lives of millions of people in World War I, the bringer of the war of
The environment surrounding the attack will be susceptible to the pathogens and because of the increases ignorance of disease transmission, the risks are even greater in stake. (Guillemin, p. 22) A prime example of mass devastation due to contamination of the environment is through agroterrorism. Agroterrorism is a serious threat to society as it is a deliberate exposure of biological agents to the population's food supply. If the government were to face this problem, there would be a plethora of different dilemmas since the U.S. main food supply is also a fundamental aspect of the economy. The U.S. Great Plains is often referred to as the Breadbasket of the world, any potential substances that could contaminate the area would devastate the U.S. economy and direct food supply. Also, people will be easily susceptible to the pathogens- especially in densely packed populations. Nations will not be ready or prepared, “similar to the influenza flu that was caught in America and killed more than 600,00 people. (Espejo, p. 20) If a population’s living conditions happened to be tightly packed, the chance for the diffusion of the disease is to increase a great amount; close contact of people allow for the bacteria to travel much easier. Incidental, physical contact to an open sneeze or cough are just some examples these dangerous pathogens can travel.
There have been early signs of different civilizations using these types of methods against their opponents in competition for territory, resource, and dominance- which is not all to different with this day in age, but just in a much larger scale. Scythian and other earlier civilizations have used bodies of contaminated victims in their attacks towards their rivals. Scythian archers infected their arrows by dipping them in decomposing bodies or in blood mixed with manure as far back as 400 B.C.E. (Hooker, History of Biowarfare) When these arrows hit their target, the bacteria from the decomposing bodies or the blood would cause their victim to have an infection. This would be a game changer because if their target were to not be completely impaled by the infected arrow, a simple cut would suffice from bacteria entering the bloodstream and basically poisoning them. Furthermore, just during the eighteenth century, the British gave Native Americans blankets that were contaminated with Smallpox by the orders of Sir Jeffrey Amherst in an attempt to spread the disease. The Commanders of Fort Pitt gave two blankets and a handkerchief out of the Smallpox hospital to the Indian leaders in hopes of defeating them so that their fort won’t be overrun. (Dando, Before 1945) This devastating point in history is outlined by the horrendous fates of the Native Americans of both North