World's Doctors Warn of Germ Warfare Risk

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Thursday October 4 11:31 AM ET

World's Doctors Warn of Germ Warfare Risk

By Waddington

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Medical Association warned on Thursday that

nations were not adequately equipped to deal with terrorist attacks using

biological or chemical weapons.

The group, bringing together doctors' associations from 72 countries, said

the threat posed by such weaponry demanded vigilance from all sectors --

governments down to individual physicians.

``The WMA called on governments to acknowledge and act on the extreme danger

of chemical and biological weapons,'' the association said in a statement

issued at the start of a special three-day meeting of its governing council.

The WMA had been scheduled to hold its annual assembly in New Delhi but the

gathering was called off in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks in

the United States. A smaller council meeting was convened instead for the

French town of Ferney-Voltaire, near the Swiss border.

Doctors said they were deeply concerned that any future attacks might

involve the use of biological weapons that had the potential to be even more

lethal than last month's assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

(news - web sites).

Some 6,000 people died or are missing and presumed dead after pilots slammed

planes into the landmarks in attacks which the United States says were

orchestrated by Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden (news - web

sites).

The WMA said a program of education for doctors and health workers was

required in order to ensure they could quickly detect symptoms of a chemical

or biological attack. The WMA also called for greater international

cooperation between health services.

INSIDIOUS RISK

A WMA report presented at the meeting pointed out that any attack with

biological weapons was likely to be insidious rather than instantly

dramatic, with infections possibly spreading for days or even weeks until

detected.

``The release of organisms causing smallpox, plague and anthrax could prove

catastrophic in terms of the resulting illnesses and deaths, compounded by

the panic such outbreaks would generate,'' it said.

``We have to increase our vigilance and improve coordination between

military defense and medical areas,'' the president of the American Medical

Association, Corlin, told Reuters.

This was because the first sign that any biological attack had been carried

out would probably come with the appearance of a just a few patients at a

clinic.

``We need to ensure that we will be quick off the mark. In dealing with a

biological weapon attack, the key is the speed of the response. This means

quickly identifying that it has taken place,'' Corlin said.

``The level of readiness is only spotty. I don't think we have in place the

systems needed,'' he added.

The WMA report noted that advances in biological and genetic research had

made it easier for groups of would-be attackers to obtain weapons of germ

warfare. It was also often difficult to tell the difference between programs

of legitimate medical research and weapons production, it added.

The United States briefly grounded crop-dusting planes following the New

York and Washington attacks on fears they could be used to spread toxic

chemicals or germs.