Drugs intended to be used as nonlethal weapons are almost certain to kill people if used during a crisis, the British Medical Association said in a recent report.
Researchers from Canada and the United States have developed a drug that could someday be used to treat people exposed to anthrax bacteria specifically engineered to overcome antibiotics.
The U.S. chemical industry has spent more than $2 billion to increase security since the Sept. 11 attacks, but the risk of a terrorist strike on a plant can never be entirely eliminated, public and private sector officials said last week.
Several nations are pressing for creation of a U.N. agency to monitor biological weapons and missiles, but in the face of U.S. opposition such a body might never be anything more than a notion.