BOTANY Higher Secondary Second Year - Textbooks Online

It is hoped that one day genetically engineered plants will have one
or more of these attributes:
i. They will show tolerance against heat, cold, drought or salt.
ii. They are more nutritious.
iii. They can be stored and transported without fear of damage.
iv. They require less fertilizer.
v. They produce chemicals and drugs that are of interest to humans.
6.4. Bio-war
Nowadays, microbes are misused as biological weapons. For instance,
a single gram of the most virulent strains of weaponized smallpox or
anthrax could contain 250 million infectious doses. Under ideal dispersal
conditions, about half the people of the entire world when exposed to
these germs could become ill and one-third might die.
Deadly organisms
Even from a very long period, pathogens causing some of the deadliest
diseases in men are being used as biological weapons. More than 2,000
years ago, Scythian archers used their arrow heads which were dipped in
rotting corpses in order to cause panic amongst people. The tips of
arrowhead caused infections. During World war II, papar bags filled with
plague infested fleas were employed as biological weapons to kill thousands
of people. At that time, well equipped and expensive laboratories were
established to mass produce biological weapons. At present, each and
every nation is facing the threat from biological weapons. People affected
by the biological war have to suffer throughout their life.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in biological warfare
Using Molecular biology techniques, new combinations of genes were
attempted to create genetically modified organisms (GMO). Some of the
most lethal agents known to have been tested in biological warfare are
anthrax, plague, smallpox and Ebola viruses with viral diseases.
People were aware of the reality that a small group of fanatical
terrorists could easily contaminate the country’s air, water and food with
lethal pathogens or biological toxins.
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