Midterm

Question 1

When did the anthrax scare take place and the consequences?

Answer 1

2001; eighteen people infected, five died

Question 2

Legislation after 9/11 created to defeat terrorists?

Answer 2

Patriot Act

Question 3

Issue between research and bioweapons

Answer 3

Want to classify or withould research from potential terrorist groups but don’t want to limit research and innovation

Question 4

What did the Patriot Act do in regards to biological agents?

Answer 4

criminalizes people with bio agents unless they are being used for medical purposes/research and prohibits restricted people from working with them

Question 5

What analysis should be used before creating bioterrorism legislation and risks if it is not done?

Answer 5

Risk trade-off; diminish researchers’ willingness or ability to work with agents, prevent preparedness, risk transfer to developing countries

Question 6

Four aspects of bioterrorism that can determine the threat?

Answer 6

Supply issues, demand issues, changes in terrorist organizations that make them harder to penetrate and stop, governments inadequate preparations to meet terrorist threat

Question 7

Issues affecting the supply-side issue of bioterrorism

Answer 7

Pathogens may have been leaked to state sponsors of terrorism, issue of dual-use, naturally occurring biological agents, found in labs, equipment easy to come by, samples used to be sent to anyonewho asked

Question 8

First bioterror attack in US

Answer 8

Rajneeshee cult, 1984; used salmonella to depress voter turnout and used at a restaurant in Oregon

Question 9

1990 bioterror attack

Answer 9

Tamil Tigers, used chlorine gas

Question 10

1995 bioterror attack

Answer 10

Aum Shinrikyo, Tokyo with liquid sarin gas; previously failed 10 times, killed 12

Question 11

Two kinds of uncertainties in bioterrorism

Answer 11

Terrorists’ capabilites and intentions, impact of BW attacks

Question 12

Factors influencing the probability of infection during a bioterror attack

Answer 12

if a group decides to use a bio agent, acquires an infectious agent in a usable form, disseminates successfully, person sensitive to dosage received, medical countermeasures not effective

Question 13

Why is bioterror a dreaded risk?

Answer 13

involuntary exposure, unfamiliarity, invisibilty, don’t know if they are exposed, long term effects unknown

Question 14

Four aspects of dread

Answer 14

disgust, horror of disease, loss of faith in ability of scientists to protect us, implications for risk analysis and policy

Question 15

Policymakers problems in regards to access to biological agent

Answer 15

regulations governing access to pathogens too lax, information related to production of agents too loosely controlled

Question 16

Biological Weapons Act of 1989

Answer 16

makes it illegal to develop/produce/acquire/retain andtransfer bio agents or toxins for use as a weapon; have to prove they will be used for a weapon

Question 17

Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996

Answer 17

regulates the transfer of select agents that are acquired through self-disclosed transaction

Question 18

Proposed policy recommendations to control access of pathogens and related information

Answer 18

improve surveillance systems for human, animal, and plant diseases by registering all individuals who work with agents and ban unregistered people; self-governance regime and an oversight board to assess potentially contentious research

Question 19

Article I BWC

Answer 19

never produce, develop, stockpile biological agents or toxins that aren’t for peaceful purposes or weapons/equipment designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes

Question 20

Article II BWC

Answer 20

each state has to destroy or divert peaceful purposes to protect populations and the environment, within nine months after the entry into force of the convention

Question 21

Article III BWC

Answer 21

each party will not assist, encourage, or induce any state/groups to acquire any agents/toxins/weapons

Question 22

Article IV BWC

Answer 22

each party will take measures to prohibit and prevent the development/production/stockpiling of agents/toxins/weapons under its jurisdiction or under its control anywhere

Question 23

Article V BWC

Answer 23

parties agree to consult one another and cooperate to solve any problems

Question 24

Article VI BWC

Answer 24

Parties that find other parties acting in breach lodges a complaint with the Security Council and cooperates with carrying out an investigation

Question 25

Article VII BWC

Answer 25

Each party agrees to provide assistance to other parties

Question 26

Article VIII BWC

Answer 26

This treaty doesn’t limit obligations from the 1925 agreement

Question 27

Article X BWC

Answer 27

Parties can exchange equipment/materials/information for peaceful purposes and won’t avoid hampering economic or technological development of parties

Question 28

Article XI BWC

Answer 28

any party can propose amendments and will be implemented if accepted by a majority

Question 29

Article XII BWC

Answer 29

A conference of the parties will be held in Geneva to review operation of the Convention

Question 30

Article XIII BWC

Answer 30

convention unlimited in duration and can withdraw if the convention jepoardizes interests of the country

Question 31

Article XIV BWC

Answer 31

Convention open for signature and subject to ratification

Question 32

Where are biotechnologies headed in the next 5-10 years?

Answer 32

pervasive industrial technology, industrialization and peer competition, dangers persist, empower national security

Question 33

How can biotechnology empower national security?

Answer 33

Reduce time to develop drugs/vaccines, improved diagnostic tests, distribution of manufacturing that can reduce shortages

Question 34

Biotechnology dangers?

Answer 34

Experienced scientists becoming a threat, ability to hurt agriculture

Question 35

Examples of confidence building measures in theBWC

Answer 35

submit data for BSL-4 labs, exchange information onoutbreaks, share publications, promote contacts between scientists, share events, creation of national legislation, offensive or defensive research before 1946, facilites creating vaccines

Question 36

What activities do parties to the BWC have to reveal?

Answer 36

prophlyaxis, studies on pathogencitiy, virulence, diagnostic techniques, aerobiology, detection, treatment, decontamination

Question 37

Legislation created to promote production of countermeasures?

Answer 37

Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)

Question 38

How are viruses classifed?

Answer 38

by the hosts they prefer, the type of structure, how they reproduce, genetic material they possess, and diseases they cause

Question 39

Virus size range

Answer 39

3200 bp to 800,000

Question 40

Shapes of viruses

Answer 40

cylinders, round and studded, icosahedron

Question 41

Characteristics of viruses?

Answer 41

not living organisms and rely on host for all functions including replication

Question 42

What are bacteriophages?

Answer 42

viruses that infect bacteria that attach on the bug via receptor sites and pump genetic material into it

Question 43

Two kinds of phages

Answer 43

virulent and temperate - genetic material gets copied along with host’s plasmid

Question 44

lysis

Answer 44

increase in phages causing the host cell to burst open, releasing more phages

Question 45

Several functions of viruses in animal cells

Answer 45

produce viral proteins that have a toxic effect on host cells, interfere with protein manufacture, create new cell structures to demolish the host cell, alter the surface of the host cell so that it will be attacked by the host’s own immune system, alter the host cell’s growth cycle and turn it into a cancer cell