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December 17, 1997: Biological Warfare - Richard Preston

Dec 17, 1997
2h 43m
Richard Preston
0:00 / 0:00
Richard Preston, author of "The Hot Zone" and "The Cobra Event," joins Art Bell to discuss biological warfare, anthrax, Ebola, and bioterrorism after Joyce Riley's first-hour warning about military anthrax inoculations. Riley presents alarming findings about the Pentagon's plan to inoculate 1.4 million military personnel against anthrax. She cites Senate Report 103-97, which states that the vaccine's effectiveness against inhaled anthrax is unknown, despite being FDA-approved for skin contact exposure. Riley warns that the inoculation program uses a vaccine considered investigational for biological warfare purposes and notes that 43 percent of Gulf War veterans reported immediate side effects from the same vaccine.

Preston describes the 1989 Ebola outbreak at a monkey facility in Reston, Virginia, where military biohazard teams in spacesuits secretly killed 600 infected monkeys over 18 days. He reveals that Ebola has been weaponized and loaded into warheads by Russia, and that the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo sent teams to Zaire to collect Ebola blood samples, bringing them back to a biological laboratory that Tokyo police have still not entered.

Preston explains how anthrax presents like a common cold before killing victims in mid-sentence, and describes Russia's development of antibiotic-resistant super anthrax at the Obolensk laboratory. He warns that the FBI currently has approximately 50 open cases involving biological or chemical weapons and terrorism, suggesting that a scientifically trained individual will eventually succeed in carrying out a devastating attack.

Key Moments

  1. Senate Report 103-97: anthrax vaccine effectiveness unknown: Riley reads directly from Senate Report 103-97 (December 8, 1994): the FDA-approved anthrax vaccine is recommended for skin contact only, and 'the vaccine's effectiveness against inhaled anthrax is unknown.'

  2. Vaccine investigational against biological warfare: Riley continues reading Senate Report 103-97: a single monkey study suggests possible protection but 'is not sufficient to prove that anthrax vaccine is safe and effective as used in the Persian Gulf' - the vaccine 'should therefore be considered investigational when used as a protection against biological warfare.'

  3. U.S. supplied Saddam with anthrax cultures: Riley says Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC admitted the U.S. provided three yeast cultures to the University of Baghdad, but failed to mention five additional pages of Class III pathogens - including bacillus anthracis cultures - that the American Type Culture Collection sent to Saddam Hussein, citing page 275 of document 103-900.

  4. 1990 Joint Chiefs memo: Iraq has weaponized anthrax: Riley reads from a declassified October 1990 Joint Chiefs of Staff document: 'The Iraqis have two confirmed biological warfare agents - anthrax and botulinum. Anthrax can be disseminated by aerosol generators...' and Saddam was known to have 40 high-performance aerosol generators in spring 1990.

  5. Ebola loaded into warheads by former Soviet program: Preston tells Bell that one reason the Army was on white-knuckle alert at Reston was that Ebola virus is now known to be a 'strategic operational biological weapon' - freeze-dried, weaponized, and apparently loaded into warheads by the former Soviet Union and modern Russia.