http://www.mercola.com/2001/oct/13/anthrax_dangers.htm
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Anthrax
Dangers May Be Overstated
by Gary Novak,
Physiologist I avoided diversions on the other pages,
because I wanted to be as succinct as possible. Here are some points which
require more development of context. Liquid
Anthrax is Ineffective. One major point is that using biowarfare agents
in liquid form is unrealistic. The
bureaucrats don't know it; and a lot of peripheral scientists don't know it. When the bureaucrats found that Iraq was
buying spray nozzles for planes, they went hyper over it. They should have
done the opposite; they should have sold the sprayers at a discount, and
everyone would have been better off. Microbes
Tend to Clump. Some background on basics is needed here.
The physical characteristics of microbes have a high tendency to be oriented
toward clumping in various complex ways. For example, the yeast which I studied in
graduate school produced clumps; and I had to use special procedures to
unclump it for counting. The reason why yeasts sometimes clump is because
insects will pick up more of them on their feet when they are clumped. Bacteria almost always have a pattern for
clumping. You've probably heard of staph bacteria; they often take over
hospitals. Staph is Latin for cluster. The clumps look like clusters of
grapes. Staph normally attacks skin through pores and produces a toxin like
anthrax. The clumping allows the toxin to be concentrated in one place, so it
can damage tissue more effectively. Similar to it is strep, which creates
strep throat. Strep is Latin for chain. The chains allow clumping while keeping
the profile low for clinging to tissue without being washed down the throat
by saliva. Anthrax
Grows in Chains. You've probably seen Anthrax growing on
TV. It creates a chain which keeps getting longer and longer until it covers
the entire surface. The cells stay joined together in chains, so the toxin is
concentrated to produce the maximum amount of tissue damage. Clumping
is not Suited for a Mist. The clumping characteristics of microbes
demonstrate the importance of physical characteristics in distribution. None
of the organisms are naturally distributed through a mist. They certainly wouldn't
clump if they were. Therefore, if they are in a liquid, they
will clump; and when sprayed, they will come out as clumps, if they come out
at all without plugging the apparatus. Normal spray nozzles could not be
used. Clumps and cells are not anything like a chemical. Spraying devices are
designed for chemicals, not microbes. That fact seems to escape the awareness
of most peripheral scientists as well as the nonscientists. Air
Precipitates Liquids. Propagandists talk about spry nozzles that
will produce a five micron mist. One of the absurdities is that the
characteristics of a mist are not determined by a nozzle but by the air which
it is sprayed into. What sort of nozzle creates rain? When air
gets supersaturated, it creates a precipitate. Spraying liquid into air
supersaturates it creating a precipitate. That means that liquid particles
combine to form larger ones. The more the liquid, the larger the drops. For biowarfare purposes, a very large amount of
liquid would have to be forced into a relatively small amount of air, because the delivery devices would have to be
fast, and they could not cover much area. There is no delivery device that
would be adequate, because air will not hold a large amount of liquid. Air is
often saturated already, particularly at night. Iraq focuses on liquids for its biowarfare
agents, which demonstrates that its science is not up to the level of a
coolaid stand. Putting liquid in a scud missile is a joke. Westerners haven't seemed to have quite
grasped how backwards science can be in the third world including Iraq.
Journalists often speak of Iraq's sophisticated science laboratories, as if
you could order science through the mail like gold plated bathroom fixtures. Larry
Harris's Story. Here's a story that tells everything about
Iraq's sophisticated science. This story comes from Larry Harris. He's the
sort-of microbiologist who keeps getting thrown in jail for trying to develop
an Anthrax vaccine. He said in his book, which he put on the internet, that
he took several courses in advanced microbiology in Ohio. The courses were presumably undergraduate;
but regardless, he studied microbiology on paper and has never spent enough
time in a laboratory to see how microbes actually grow. So he swallows
everything he hears hook, line and sinker. His campaign against biowarfare began with
a discussion with another microbiology student who was from Iraq. She said
she was the daughter of a former official of Iraq. She was studying
microbiology, because she had been in the laboratories in Iraq and was
enthused about biological warfare. Spray-cans
full of Gunk. She said Iraq developed a terrorist
procedure for spreading anthrax in this country by sending persons around
with spray-cans of the type that are used for spraying gardens. She said the
procedure was to open the can, put in some media, inoculate it and let it
grow. After a few days it could be sprayed in subway tunnels or ventilation
systems to kill people. Remember how anthrax grows? It forms
chains of cells stuck together for clumping; and it forms a capsule under
some conditions. The spray-can that it grew in would have slimy, smelly gunk
in it which wouldn't go through the hose, let along a spray nozzle. But there are several reasons why that
procedure is exactly what Iraq would have developed. One reason is because
pathogens in a liquid are easy to work with. The bugs don't come out of the
liquid easily to harm the workers. Secondly, when dictators such as Saddam
Hussein demand results, someone better produce results, or heads roll.
Dictators of that type maintain an intimidation atmosphere by executing
someone for failures as well as rebellion. Since biowarfare in its traditionally
assumed form cannot be produced, concocting any pretense which convinces
Saddam Hussein would be the goal of the researchers. When the peripheral
scientists fall for it, it does the job. Russia
Spends Money on Futility. Russia does a lot of research on
biological weapons including anthrax. But it is mostly genetic engineering.
Where that approach fails is that there is not a realistic delivery system. Spending a lot of money is not the same
thing as succeeding. Since the agents cannot be tested under actual
conditions, their limitations are not visible to the nonexperts, and the
researchers would pull the wool over their eyes, because they have ideal
jobs, with all the money the military spends on research. A few years ago, Anthrax escaped from a
research facility in Russia and killed 68 people in a town downwind.
Apparently, Russia still claims the anthrax was in meat. But a Harvard
professor went over there and said ten grams escaped from a nearby research
facility. How can a professor look at a building and determine that ten grams
came out of it? Here's what would have happened. The
military desperately needs to test its products, and killing people is the
only way it can do it. So they would have released about a kilogram of
powdered Anthrax spores from their research facility on a windy day; and
nothing would have happened. Then a few weeks later, they would have
released about ten kilograms; and nothing would have happened. So they would
have gotten out a fan and clouded the air for two days, which would have
killed the 68 persons. U.S.
Military Propaganda. The U.S. military has an official web site
on Anthrax where they state that there are enough anthrax spores in a gram to
kill 100 million persons. A gram would be about a trillion Anthrax spores, if
pure, since bacterial spores are about one micron in diameter and about the
density of water. A micron is one ten thousandths of a
centimeter. So a cubic micron is a trillionth of a cubic centimeter, the
later weighing one gram for water. The military uses the figure of ten
thousand Anthrax spores being required to start an infection in the lungs. So
dividing a trillion spores by ten thousand yields 100 million persons being
killed per gram. So how many persons does a gram of Anthrax
kill? Is it 6.8 persons, as supposedly occurred in Russia, or 100 million, as
the U.S. military claims? There's a lot of difference. Anthrax
was Trivial before Recent Hype. Anthrax was unheard of by the public
before sometime around 1995, when a flood of media stories appeared. At
first, the subject was supposed terrorists weapons, but anthrax eventually
became the center of focus. A flood of stories hitting the media means
the government underworld is behind them. Even during the Gulf War, anthrax
was not mentioned. When the Israelis prepared for attack, the only thing they
considered was nerve gas. The reason why is because anthrax was never
considered to be a significant biological weapon. The reason why Iraq never developed
anthrax significantly is because it was too trivial to waste time on. The
researchers left it in liquid form, so they could tell the higher-ups that
they were doing something, but they knew it was too trivial to waste time
converting it to a dry powder, which would be difficult and expensive. When the U.S Government started promoting
supposed terrorists weapons for disinformation purposes in 1995, very few
persons had any way of knowing the truth about anthrax. Why are exploiters
hyping anthrax now but weren't before 1995? If anthrax were as dangerous as they say it is,
it would have been in the news for a century. Anthrax took off in the media because the
biology is obscure, and there was no separation of contrivance from fact.
Before 1995, the persons who knew anything about anthrax considered it to be
trivial to a point of irrelevance, even as a biological weapon. DR.
MERCOLA'S COMMENT: Well, both lead articles appear in my
mail box the same day from two different sources. This one from David Foster
and the second
from my acupuncture friend Siu-Lan in Toronto. They both seem to provide welcome
relief. If in fact they are true, and I have no reason to believe they are
not, then the bioterrorism threat may be much less than has been reported. I am not a microbiologist, but I have
enough science training to recognize that these articles seem to provide a
solid sense basis for their assertion that the risk for bioterrorism is much
less than being reported. I will continue to seek expert advice to see if I
can sort this out, but I felt it was important to pass on at this time to
provide a sense of peace and safety in an world which has changed do
radically in the past month. One of the key strategies though in
your defense program would be to make certain you are on the proper eating plan. Avoiding sugar is one
of the best things you can do to improve your immune system. If you have problems with this I would
recommend EFT as it has
been quite effective for most of the patients that I have used it for. Prayer will, of course,
continue to be one of the best powerful strategies that you can implement. Experts Debunk
Bioterror Myths |
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