Biological and chemical warfare are gaining considerable prominence presently and in the recent past, but they have also probed serious environmental concerns. For instance, between 1962 and 1971 over 72 million liters of herbicides were distributed over South Vietnam, and these were not ordinary herbicides, but chemicals designed to influence the Vietnam War (Harigel, 2001). The use of Sarin and Mustard gas in Syria did not just raise issues about human life, but the destruction of these chemical reserves by the U.S. in the ocean raises serious concerns about the pollution of water and endangering of marine life ( Chakrabarty & Simba, 2014 ). According to Dudley and Woodford (2005), outbreaks of bioweapon diseases could lead to the loss of domestic diversity in domesticated animals and plants and result in the extinction of endangered wildlife species. Biological warfare is popularly referred to as bioterrorism and can be used by even the seemingly weakest terrorist groups (Radosavljevic, 2019). Evidently, chemical and biological warfare have deleterious effects to the environment, which causes loss and imbalance of biodiversity, contaminate food and water, and ultimately, pose serious threat to plant, animal and human life.
References
Chakrabarty, A.R., & Simba, A.J. (2014). Chemical warfare: An unprecedented environmental threat. 2014 3rd International Conference on Environment Energy and Biotechnology . http://www.ipcbee.com/vol70/009-ICEEB2014-R0002.pdf
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Dudley, J. P., & Woodford, M. H. (2005). Potential impact of biological weapons on biological diversity and weapons on biological diversity and indigenous peoples in Asia. Asian Biotechnology and Development Review , 8 (1), 45-76. https://ris.org.in/sites/default/files/article2_v8n1.pdf
Harigel, G.G. (2001, November 22). Chemical and biological weapons: use in warfare, impact on society and environment. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation . https://www.wagingpeace.org/chemical-and-biological-weapons-use-in-warfare-impact-on-society-and-environment/
Radosavljevic, V. (2019). Environmental Health and Bioterrorism. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health , 450–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.11435-6
