Deliberate release risks

SI 1997/1900 The Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release and Risk Assessment) (Amendment)... 

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). 

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. 

Nanotechnology also poses a number of associated risks. Risks come with anything that is so small that it can be accidentally inhaled, ingested, or passed through your skin. What would happen if the cancer-kiUing nanorobots described accidentally went off course in your body The accidental or deliberate release of some forms of nanotechnology into our water supply could be disastrous. 

Release of a GMO in the waste stream could be construed to be a deliberate release although it falls within the remit of the contained use regulations. Nevertheless, information from studies on deliberate releases of GMOs could be usefully deployed for contained use operations. The IBP is seeking to collate relevant information for risk assessment purposes. The Royal Commission on Environmental Protection adapted the HAZOP technique as a practical and systematic technique to consider, assess and control possible risks from GMO release to the environment. The technique, termed GENHAZ, has also been tested by the IBP for contained use assessments. We developed an integrated approach to assess the operational aspects of the plant and equipment (as described in section 11.4.5) and the environmental aspects of possible GMO releases. We concluded that a more rigorous environmental risk assessment could be developed than had hitherto been provided by companies. 

The First Review Conference also noted concerns related to the possibihty that chemical facilities may become the object of attack, including by terrorists, which could lead to deliberate releases or theft of toxic chemicals. The First Review Conference was cognisant of the fact that some States Parties had taken measures to minimise these risks, and in this context recalled that the OPCW had been established as a forum for consultation and cooperation among the States Parties. States Parties could, if they so decided, make use of this framework to exchange experiences and to discuss issues related to this matter. 

The deliberate release of chemicals to produce toxic trauma has been familiar in warfare for more than 2000 years. In civil life, although there may have been coincidental exposure (e.g. in siege warfare), most acute toxic trauma up to the twentieth century would have been due to ingested poisonous substances. Since that time, civilians have been increasingly at risk from exposure to both agents of chemical warfare and toxic industrial chemicals. 

Chemical incidents pose a special risk to rescuers and hospitals since the spread of contamination to staff may adversely affect their performance and long-term health. There have been many reports on secondary contamination of healthcare staff and facilities during chemical incident response, sometimes as a result of a single contaminated patient. In the USA, it has been estimated that secondary contamination of healthcare staff occurs in 0.4 % of accidental industrial chemical incidents. In contrast, the deliberate release of chemicals is associated with a higher risk of spread of contamination due to a number of factors ... 

On this basis, hazards presented by the synthesis and storage of toxins can be graded for purposes of security where there is a concern that deliberate release may be an objective. In this way, toxins in an urban society may be classified as high, medium and low risk in terms of the overall hazard presented, assuming that medical countermeasures are available. 

When large doses of radiation are released accidentally (nuclear power plant) or deliberately (terrorist act), there is an increased risk that adverse health conditions may develop (CDC, 2002b). Every agency should develop protocols for implementation during a radiological emergency. The PHN should be available to answer any questions about radiation that typically flood health department phone lines in this sort of crisis. The PHN should be aware of the following ... 

Across the United States, approximately 15,000 chemical plants, manufacturers, water utilities, and other facilities store and use extremely hazardous substances that would injure or kill employees and residents in nearby communities if suddenly released. Approximately 125 of these facilities each put at least 1 million people at risk 700 facilities each put at least 100,000 people at risk and 3000 facilities each put at least 10,000 people at risk, cumulatively placing the well-being of more than 200 million American people at risk, in many cases unnecessarily. The threat of terrorism has brought new scrutiny to the potential for terrorists to deliberately trigger accidents that until recently the chemical industry characterized as unlikely worst-case scenarios. Such an act could have even more severe consequences than the thousands of accidental releases that occur each year as a result of ongoing use of hazardous chemicals. 

Terrorist threat heightens the risk presented by facilities that still have large vulnerability zones. However, the RMP program does not currently address the potential for a deliberate terrorist release of chemicals. Federal law does not require companies to assess readily available alternative chemicals and processes that pose fewer dangers. 

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