September, 2001 attacks

After the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, the American Federal Government passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. It requires 100% inspection of hold luggage ( 109 suitcases per year in the USA) by the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) by the end of 2002. A similar deadline has been set by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) for its member states to implement 100% screening of hold baggage at all international airports in the European Union. 

Detonation of an improvised or stolen nnclear weapon by terrorists is the worst-case radiological attack scenario (5). Althongh difficnlt to construct, due to requirements for sophisticated engineering and expertise, an improvised nuclear device could produce a yield similar to the Hiroshima bomb, with release or radiation, blast, thermal pulses, and radioactive fallout (1). At a minimum, a small nuclear detonation could cause damage equal or exceeding the September 11 attacks in New York City. Even if the nuclear detonation were unsuccessful, the conventional explosion associated with the device could cause significant environmental contamination with the nuclear weapons material, such as plutonium or uranium (1). 

The October 2001 anthrax events revealed that terrorist attacks do not have to cause many casnalties to create mass anxiety and disruption (1,4). Other than that experience, however, we have little historic data to tell us how the public will react following a large-scale biologic, chemical or radiological attack (1). Most available information comes from studies of pubhc reactions to natural disasters, conventional terrorist events, such as the Sarin attack in Tokyo and the September 11 attack, and nuclear accidents (1,5,6). Additional information is available from stnd-ies of soldier s reactions to military campaigns involving toxic agents (1). 

After the September 11 attack The Pood and Drug Administration (FDA) has boosted its already very effective emergency response plans. It works closely with other Pederal, State and Local safety authorities and regulatory agencies abroad to protect food and respond promptly to any evidence of threats to the food and water supply. The impressive amount of information, which the Agency can provide, makes it probably the best source of relevant and updated information. FDA can be contacted toll free at 1-800 SAFEFOOD, or on line at www. foodsafety.gov. 

Since the September 11 attacks, there has been increased concern worldwide about CWAs, as well as increased interest in developing technology for confronting this threat. 

DAD was released 14 months following the September 11 attacks. However, aside from a throwaway line in a disused London Underground... 

Conventional munitions were also the weapon of choice in 1998, when A1 Qaeda operatives set off truck bombs at two US embassies, in Tanzania and Kenya. Though much smaller in size than the Oklahoma device, these bombs employed higher-energy explosives (TNT). The explosion at Dar Es Salaam killed 11 and wounded 72. The bomb in Nairobi killed 212 and wounded more than 4600. And the weapons in the September 11 attack, although by no means conventional in terms of delivery, were diabolically simple aircraft fully loaded for transcontinental flight with fuel that exploded on impact. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Self-reported increase in asthma severity after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center—Manhattan, New York, 2001. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2002 51 781-784. 

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