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LoginSARS a "biological weapon"
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Taiwan suggests SARS was China warfare plot
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan legislators wearing surgical masks and displaying banners with skull and crossbones took over parliament's floor on Tuesday after the country's security chief accused China of starting the global SARS epidemic six years ago as part of a biological warfare campaign.
Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Chao-ming told a legislative committee on Monday that sources in China suspected biological warfare, but that conclusive evidence had not surfaced.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome originated in southern China in 2002 and went on to kill hundreds of people around the world -- including about 350 in China -- bringing Asian tourism and air industries almost to a halt.
An initial cover-up of the epidemic led to the sacking of Beijing's mayor and the health minister and led to scores of conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus.
"In the 2003 SARS period, there were deaths and injuries, and in addition China hid the patient count, causing panic in people's hearts," the security bureau said in a statement.
"At that time insider information indicated that SARS was a biological weapon." Tsai told the committee that SARS had "become a biological warfare formula" in China and that the bureau would "continue to monitor the situation," local media said on Tuesday, splashing the story across TV screens and front pages.
China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing has vowed to bring the island back under mainland rule, by force if necessary.
Some legislators were unsure why the security bureau brought SARS up at such a crucial time in cross-strait relations, which have improved under the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou.
"The comment about biological warfare from China brings SARS back as a hot topic," the United Daily News said. "It raises questions about whether President Ma Ying-jeou's government can build citizen trust in its administrative ability."
Conspiracy theories about SARS have appeared before. After two Russian scientists said that SARS could have been manufactured in labs, Chinese activists pointed to the United States, saying Washington might be using it against China.
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I guess a general questions to ask is does it fit any of these definitions?
Biological weapons are defined as:
- Microorganisms that infect and grow in the target host producing a clinical disease that kills or incapacitates the targeted host. Such microbes may be natural, wild-type strains or may be the result of genetically engineered organisms.
- Biologically Derived Bioactive Substances (BDBS) products of metabolism (usually, but not always, of microbial origin) that kill or incapacitate the targeted host. These include biological toxins, as well as substances that interfere with normal behavior, such as hormones, neuropeptides and cytokines.
The perfect biological organism or biologically derived bioactive substance (BDBS) for use as a weapon should have the following characteristics:
- Highly infectious; requiring only a few organisms to cause the desired effect (e.g. smallpox) or highly effective; requiring a small quantity of material to cause the desired effect (e.g. botox).
- Efficiently dispersible, usually in the air; contagious or effective on contact.
- Readily grown and produced in large quantities.
- Stable in storage; preferably in a ready-to-deliver state.
- Resistant enough to environmental conditions so as to remain infectious or operational long enough to affect the majority of the target, but not so persistent as to affect the occupying army.
- Resistant to treatment; e.g. antibiotics, antibodies, pharmaceutical drugs etc.
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I do not know if SARS is a biological weapon or some genetics experiment got out from a Lab.....But Singapore set up BSL 4. So in any case govt is treating it as a threat to Singapore.
just an empirical observation Ebola virus appear in 1976 and once in a while it make headline news so does Avian flu, foot n mouth disease etc. Virus i believe do adapt and survived when they find a host they spread. If that particular strain of corona virus just disappear like that......after peppering Asia. Than is that because it is unstable unable to adapt to our living environment but only in certain labs? So certainly questions need further exploring . So far it is only conspiracy theories from internet.
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