With the public debate in a high pitch over the last several years, weapons of mass destruction have been in the forefront of discussions in international circles, particularly after the initiation of the war in Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction include: Biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological warfare agents. Of these, the least discussed has been lethal biological agents, until the Anthrax scare in the US in 2001 even though one of the ten major threats identified by the High Level Threat Panel of the US includes biological weapons. While defense against biowarfare using modern technologies and products is justified and even approved by international weapons conventions, development of tools for clandestine use by national governments or militant groups would clearly constitute bioterrorism. Thus the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention banned the development, production and stockpiling of pathogenic microbes or products there from, except in amounts necessary for protection against attacks or for peaceful research. By 1996, as many as 137 countries were members of this convention. Lack of proper differentiation between producing these agents for research or defensive purposes against those for biowarfare has resulted in many countries developing products capable of being used as biowarfare agents. In blatant violation of the terms of the treaty, it is well known that the Soviet Union, Iraq, Iran, US and most of the other countries still have active programmes in this area notwithstanding their being parties to the treaty. The argument is that availability of bioweapon resources will be a deterrent to third party attacks. The perpetrators of the Anthrax attack in pockets of US in 2001, which reportedly resulted in 5 deaths and much public panic have remained unknown to this date. The incident highlighted the very high vulnerability and risks faced by countries and their populations and the difficulties of containing and controlling the effects of such biological warfare on mankind's survival.
In many ways biological weapons are more dangerous and lethal than chemical weapons since the latter do not grow or reproduce unlike the former. In addition, through genetic manipulation it is possible to modify them to more virulent and resistant organisms. By the insertion of a toxic gene it is possible to even convert non-pathogenic, benign organisms to lethal weapons, which cannot be detected or eradicated by conventional methods or products.
The organisms considered as biological warfare agents include many bacterial, viral and fungal strains including those of Anthrax, Ebola, Marburg, Plague, Cholera, Tularemia, Brucellosis, Q Fever, Glanders, Typhus, Japanese Encephalitis and even the extinct Small Pox. The attack can be directed at foods, water sources, hospitals, agricultural fields, all soft targets not easily amenable to strict and continuous monitoring and therefore can lead to fatal outcomes to millions of people. Most of these results in fatalities ranging from 50-90% over a relatively short period of time particularly if there are no early detection methods and very few are curable with drugs once the disease is in an advanced stage. In addition, the impact of an attack could have long term effects on their survivors very much like the aftermath of the nuclear attack on citizens of Hiroshima.
From the perspective of bio warfare technology, the difficulty is not in identifying the potent and effective bio-agent and producing them; it is rather the development of the most appropriate delivery system to enable their transfer to the target groups and areas in adequate doses to ensure their lethal efficacy. Aerosols, fine powders as well as various vectors (as carriers) which ensure wide dispersion and distribution of the spores are being developed for this purpose.
India too has in place defensive programmes against biowarfare, such as at the Microbial Containment complex at Pune to provide early warning, identify contaminated areas and populations at risk. Public-private partnership also has played a major role with Klenzaids being a major collaborator. Methods for predicting the use of biological agents as well as assessing the area for the hazards associated with a biological attack are being established in several centres in India. Efforts include decontamination technologies to restore facilities without causing environmental concerns. The work stations which are already set up or are in the planning stage provide for diagnostics of the disease agents infecting animals and human being as well as their habitats and for taking actions in case of an attack.
Objective of decontamination
The objective of decontamination is to ensure that all materials including equipments, apparels, humans, animals, plants and their habitats and the environment in general are all sanitized in the process. It involves neutralising the effects of biological warfare agents to a level without producing hazardous residues or vapours. Requirements for decontamination in the civil sector are more demanding and complex than those needed from a military perspective. What is desirable is to have products and processes of decontamination which are effective, non-corrosive, fast acting, relatively inexpensive, easily deployable and long lasting in its effects. While the ideal products and processes meeting these criteria are probably still some way off, recent advances in this field are promising. While formaldehyde has been used for several years, it suffers from problems of corrosion, irritation from the fumes and not reaching adequate concentration levels. Recently, vapourised hydrogen peroxide has been identified as a good alternative. In that connection the innovations from Klenzaids, a company devoted to ensuring environmental cleanliness and clean room facilities for manufacturing units, R&D laboratories, hospitals, bio containment workstations etc., are noteworthy.
Klenzaids' glow plasma technology
At the Asian Conference on 'laboratory biosafety and biosecurity' in Bangkok, Mourya, and Shahani and their colleagues at the Microbial Containment Complex at Pune and the Klenzaids Contamination Controls Ltd at Mumbai presented the technique of glow plasma decontamination using hydrogen peroxide vapour. They observed that making use of the known properties of causing damage to DNA and proteins due to ion resonance and pulsating fields, there is better and faster decontamination when plasma is used in combination with 5% hydrogen peroxide. The usefulness of this technology which has been the subject of patents applications, is that it is useful for a wide variety of uses including for ensuring occupational safety and health to meet moral, legal and economic obligations to people in all areas of employment. The products developed by Klenzaids using this state-of-the-art technology such as Alpha Isolators, ribbonless composite anti-microbial HEPA filters, ultrasonic hydrogen peroxide nebulisers and other variants are useful in the civilian sector in hospitals, healthcare manufacturing units, R&D laboratories, pathology laboratories etc while its military applications include decontamination both as an early predictor, a major deterrent and a corrective instrument in cases of biowarfare. It is gratifying that these developments through indigenous efforts have resulted in major breakthroughs useful for creating a cleaner and safer environment and preparedness for facing any potential threats from biowarfare.
(The author is a senior research scientist and industry expert based in Chennai)