Deliberate release

SI 1992/3280 The Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations... 

EEC Directive on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms... 

Directive 2001/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 2001 on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC... 

Oil spills cause significant environmental problems. The largest spill in history was the deliberate release of oil into the Persian Gulf during the 1991 Gulf War. The second largest spill took place in 1979 when an exploratory well off the coast of Mexico released about 140 million gallons of oil. 

Chemicals in this class include agricultural and industrial chemicals that are readily available and possess appropriate chemical and toxicological properties to create a mass impact if deliberately released. These materials were selected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Department of Defense. 

There are no published recommendations for isolation or protective action distances for these materials deliberately released in mass casualty situations. However, traditional isolation and protective action distances for most of these materials can be found in the Department of Transportation 2004 Emergency Response Guide (ERG). These recommendations are based on an accidental release during transportation of the material and involving a small spill (i.e., a commercial gas cylinder or 200 liters or less of liquid material), or a large spill (i.e., more than one gas cylinder, a large gas container such as a railcar, or more than 200 liters of liquid material). 

Genetic Sciences surreptitiously performed the first deliberate release experiment, injecting genetically engineered microbes into trees growing on the company s roof, while waiting for approval from the EPA to conduct a different deliberate release experiment involving strawberry plants. 

The terrorist CW threat differs fundamentally from the military CW threats of the past. Essentially, it is driven by accessibility of the material. On the one hand, there has to be concern about the security of existing CW stockpiles. But it is equally important to ensure that terrorist organizations cannot get access to relevant precursor materials or toxic industrial chemicals to produce their own make-shift chemical weapons. A related concern is the presence of toxic industrial chemicals in manufacturing, storage and transport, and the danger of deliberate releases of these chemicals by attacks with conventional explosives. 

Environmental emergencies involving the release, or threatened release, of oil, radioactive materials, or hazardous chemicals potentially may affect communities and the surrounding environment. Releases may be accidental, as in the case of a spill at a chemical plant, or may be deliberate. Releases may also be caused by natural disasters. Environmental emergencies may progress to become disasters. 

Other common chemicals could be deliberately released into the environment, putting wider populations at risk. This could occur within a facility or perhaps by sabotaging a container en route via train or road. During the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, for example, U.S. federal authorities considered potential threats from improvised chemical devices, including the use of high explosives to puncture a train car loaded with toxic chemicals (U.S. Army Medical Command, 1999). 

Give examples of unusual patterns of disease occurrence that might indicate a deliberate release of a biological agent. 

Construct a case-based scenario that would suggest inhalational anthrax resulting from a deliberate release of aerosolized spores. 

Discuss how a clinician might use this information to help distinguish between a cluster of naturally occurring infections and one that was the result of a deliberate release of the agent. 

Anthrax remains both a serious public health hazard and a very real biological weapon threat. A deliberate release of an anthrax weapon in a populated area could have catastrophic implications. An economic model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested a cost of 26.2 billion to treat 100,000 people exposed to anthrax (Kaufinann et al., 1997). A risk assessment, provided at the end of this chapter, will serve to highlight the dangers of a realistic scenario involving anthrax spores. 

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