Effects of WMD

Although chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons are grouped together as WMD, each differs in its lethality and effects. A 1993 authoritative review of the effects of WMD, Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks, by the former U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of the U.S. Congress concludes that nuclear weapons are the most potent of the three. In addition to killing large numbers of people, a nuclear weapon can destroy buildings and infrastructure and contaminate large areas with radioactive fallout.

Biological and chemical weapons, on the other hand, do not destroy infrastructure and can be defended against through the use of gas masks, protective clothing, shelters, and decontamination procedures. Such protective gear, however, can impair the movement of troops. Biological agents can potentially kill as many people as nuclear weapons, though they act more slowly than chemical or nuclear weapons and are difficult to deliver effectively.

One example of a biological weapon is bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes the disease anthrax. In the 2001 attacks with anthrax spores, it appears that the letter sent to Senator Tom Daschle contained approximately two grams of highly refined anthrax with chemical additives to prevent the particles  from sticking together. The 25 victims of the anthrax attacks contracted the disease in one of two forms. If the spores were breathed in, they caused the inhalation form of the disease, which if untreated mostly resulted in toxic shock and death. If the spores entered a person’s body through the skin, they formed a darkened, often-painless lesion. In up to 20 percent of untreated cases, this form progresses to death.

Chemical weapons incapacitate, injure, or kill by affecting the skin, eyes, lungs, blood, nerves, or other organs.

Further Reading:

	NTI, Nuclear Terrorism Tutorial
	NTI, Biological Warfare Tutorial
	NTI, Chemical Warfare Tutorial
	NATO Handbook on the Medical Aspects of NBC Defensive Operations
	Carey Sublette, Effects of Nuclear Explosions
	Atomic Archive, "Basic Effects of Nuclear Weapons"
	CDC, Thomas V. Inglesby, "Anthrax: A Possible Case History"
	CDC, Tara O'Toole, "Smallpox: An Attack Scenario"