The year, 600 BC. Solon, the legislator of the Athenians, contaminated the River Pleisthenes with hellebores (skunk cabbage) to give the defenders of Kirrha violent diarrhea leading to their defeat. This is the first recorded use of plants as a source of chemicals for warfare.

Although not very well known, chemical and biological warfare has been used for over 2000 years. Chemical and Biological warfare has made a vast change since 600 BC and has evolved into one of the most advance and destructive types of warfare known to man (Russell 1998).

There are many reasons why chemical and biological warfare is so effective. Throughout the medieval times, Cadavers were catapulted over castle and fortress walls. Disease would spread within the enclosed walls. Cadavers were also placed up stream and the inhabitants of the fortress would drink the deadly, microorganism infested water. Biological and Chemical weapons are very inexpensive. It does not take a very sophisticated industrial base to produce lethal chemicals. This makes it a viable means of warfare for Third World countries. The use of chemical weapons by Iraq and Libya in 1988 reinforces the danger t

World War 1 marked the first time that there was a large-scale use of gas in warfare. The Germans dispersed 168 tons of Chlorine gas from cylinders against the French Salient at Ypres. Total surprise was achieved, but the success of this attack was not very good (Graham 1998). This attack resulted in over 5,000 allied casualties, the loss or 60 guns and huge quantities of supplies. The Germans attacked the northeast part of the Ypres Slient where the French and British lines met. The French area to the right was held by a group of Algerians while the Canadians held the British area to the left. An excellent eyewitness account of this attack was documented in Maj. Gen. Amos Fries' book, "Chemical Warfare":

Cass, Edward C. "Chemical and Biological Warfare." Microsoft Encarta '98. [Electronic

Biological warfare agents include both living microorganisms (bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and fungi), and toxins (chemicals) produced by microorganisms, plants, or animals. Writers on the subject have produced a long list of biological warfare agents that terrorists could potentially use. Among those mentioned have been: anthrax, escherichia coli, haemophilus influenzae, brucellosis (undulant fever), psittacosis (parrot fever), yersina pestis (the Black Death of the 14th Century), tularemia (rabbit fever), malaria, cholera, typhoid, bubonic plague, cobra venom, shellfish toxin, botulinal toxin, saxitoxin, ricin, smallpox, shigella flexneri, s. dysenteriae (Shiga bacillus), salmonella, staphylococcus enterotoxin B, hemorrhagic fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, histoplasma capsulatum, pneumonic plague, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever, diphtheria, melioidosis, glanders, tuberculosis, infectious hepatitis, encephalitides, blastomycosis, nocardiosis, yellow fever, typhus, tricothecene mycotoxin, aflatoxin, and Q fever (Hardy 1998). As you can very well see, the list is endless, and this is one reason that biological warfare is so dangerous. Some of these agents are highly lethal; others would serve mainly in an incapacitating role. Some authors have also speculated about the possible terrorist use of new, genetically engineered agents. These agents are designed to take out certain people such as a certain race for example.

After World War 1 and up to today there have been some major advances in chemical and biological warfare. Recently, there have been many attempts of terrorism that use biological and chemical warfare. Th

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