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Long-term social and psychological damage
from the threat of biological or chemical terrorism may be
worse than any physical illness these weapons cause if care
is not taken.
Researchers warn that fears
of biological and chemical warfare can lead to panic
and have already produced cases of "mass sociogenic illness,"
in which groups of people develop symptoms in response to
an imaginary threat.
And some methods for dealing with the
threat of terrorism, such as having investigators arrive on
the scene of a suspected biological attack wearing "space
suits," can further amplify fears, the authors warn.
The fact is, they note, that biological
and chemical warfare agents are very limited as military weapons.
Their real purpose, they add, is to "wreak destruction
via psychological means -- by inducing fear, confusion, and
uncertainty in everyday life."
Researchers point out that people have
lived through other types of attacks designed only to terrorize,
such as aerial bombing. And many societies today, have learned
to cope with terror as a daily threat.
Irish Republican Army bombings in Belfast
and London are examples of how civilians cope with a continuing
threat. It becomes an irritation, for some people, it was
an appalling tragedy, but for society it was something to
get used to.
The quicker
that happens, the better.
In 1995, when members of the Aum Shinrikyo
cult released sarin on the Tokyo subway, which Wessely described
as "the most concentrated area of humanity in the world,"
there were only 12 fatalities.
The only way terrorists can bring society
to its knees, he said, is when the response is to shut down
government, media, commerce and industry. That is the purpose
of it. Terrorists couldn't do it by any other way, because
the weapons themselves are not particularly effective.
British
Medical Journal October 20, 2001;323:878-879
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