Dr. Robert Hargrove, an expert on biological and chemical weapons who has worked closely with the U.S. military, spoke at Elon Nov. 6 about this form of terrorism. Details...
Hargrove’s lecture drew a large crowd to Whitley Auditorium. He began his speech by explaining the different types of chemical and biological agents. Chemical agents are those that choke, blister, affect the blood at the cellular level or affect the nervous system, Hargrove said. There are three categories of biological agents: pathogens, toxins and anti-crop agents. “There’s a whole host of biological and chemical agents out there,” he said.
Although anthrax has been more prominent in the news recently, Hargrove said that smallpox is a bigger threat because it is infectious. “Diagnosis is key,” he said. “It’s really the primary care people who will be the first responders.”
Hargrove said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors pockets of illness in the United States and all over the world, and he doesn’t want people to become oversensitized to anthrax by the recent media coverage. He also encouraged the crowd to put the anthrax threat into perspective.
“Every day you get up, and you do some sort of risk-benefit analysis,” he said, comparing the risk of getting anthrax to those associated with smoking, drinking and even driving. “It’s my assumption that more people died on I-40 yesterday than have died of anthrax so far.”
At a press conference before his speech, Hargrove said he thinks those responsible for the recent anthrax threats are living in the United States. “I don’t think it’s imported,” he said. “The people or persons who did this would need the motive to do it. Are they connected with Al-Qaeda or bin Laden? Yes, they could be. They could also not be.”