ABSTRACT
The FBI issued a warning in April 2003 that terrorists may try to improvise weapons from common household items with the intent of contaminating food or introducing biological or chemical contaminants into the environment (Anderson, 2003). Producing cyanide or ricin (or abrin, a closely related toxin) in a home laboratory is not difficult. Likewise, growing crude cultures of Salmonella sp. or Clostridium botulinum (botulism toxin) is possible by an individual with minimal training or skill. Capture of Al-Qaeda’s chief of operations, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, provided fresh evidence that this terrorist group was experimenting with such weapons. Raids on a mosque in Manchester, England, and in neighboring apartments in February, 2003 uncovered ricin production in home labs. The Department of Defense is also of the belief that terrorists may use biological agents to contaminate food or water because they are extremely difficult to detect (Anon., 1998). Again, the purpose of these weapons would be primarily to terrorize unprotected civilians and not as weapons of war.
