Mr Bush himself later echoed that suspicion, but again acknowledged that no firm evidence of a link had yet been found.Already rattled by the events of September 11th and then the emergence of bioterrorism, Americans are again alarmed.
"If you can't get flu vaccine to Americans, how can you protect them against bioterrorism?" he added later.Flu kills an estimated 36,000-51,000 americans a year, 90% of them over 65.
This is a sensationalised account of the threat from bioterrorism and not in keeping with the healthy scepticism you usually bring to bear on such matters.In particular, causing mass casualties with biological agents presents extraordinary technical and operational challenges to terrorists without assistance from a state.
This was not, in fact, the first incident of bioterrorism in America.
Non-ratifiers include Libya, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.The poor man's weaponBut new laboratory techniques mean that for about a dollar, say some analysts, a microbiologist can now generate enough material to harm people and livestock covering a square kilometre, earning bioterrorism the nickname of "the poor man's atomic bomb".
Uncertainty about likely future demand, particularly in the case of bioterrorism, can be great, discouraging investment in innovation.
As if to prove the point, the threat of bioterrorism has been one motive for what preparations have been put in place.An army, of course, needs weapons.
Even when bioterrorism scenarios are considered, she claims, hospital leaders and public-health experts are frequently excluded from the training sponsored by federal agencies.
Harsher controls may make for poor human-rights policy and even poor economic policy; but they are the best form of homeland security.Planning for bioterrorism illustrates another problem: misallocation of resources.
This, she suggests, means they might have fewer qualms about bioterrorism than the terrorists of several decades ago, who were more interested in scoring political points and in garnering public support for their various causes.Dr Rotz is not alone in her belief that bioterrorism is a growing cause for concern.
The Tokyo subway incident seems to show that almost anybody can gain access to biological weapons of mass destruction.To Milton Leitenberg of the Centre for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, however, it proves just the opposite: that the threat of bioterrorism has been wildly exaggerated.
