[Viewing the World Through Weapons] Can a Virus Really Be Made into a Biological Weapon?

China, a Biological Weapons Convention Member... Cannot Openly Develop Biological Weapons
Former Soviet Union Developed Ebola Virus Weapon but Ultimately Failed

Appearance of U.S. military personnel training for biological warfare
[Image source: U.S. Army official website/www.army.mil]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia), which is known to have originated in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, continues, various conspiracy theories have also emerged. Among them was the story that this novel coronavirus was a biological weapon secretly developed by the Chinese government. In fact, since there is even a virus research institute in Wuhan, the conspiracy theories spread even more widely.

The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, at the center of these conspiracy theories, is a virus-specialized research institute corresponding to Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4). BSL-4 is the highest level among biosafety standards, referring to facilities equipped with security measures capable of researching deadly viruses such as Ebola virus or smallpox, which cause serious diseases in humans or animals. In March last year, the international academic journal Viruses published a research paper from this Wuhan virus laboratory on coronaviruses originating from bats in China.

However, this laboratory is not a place for researching biological weapons but rather for studying treatments, vaccines, and the risks of mutant viruses. Even if there were a biological weapons research facility secretly operating in China, it would be impossible to openly operate it in a major city like Wuhan. China has been a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which came into effect at the United Nations General Assembly in 1975. Currently, 174 countries worldwide have joined this convention, which prohibits the open development of biological weapons.

BSL-4 level laboratories are not exclusive to China or the United States or a few major powers. According to the official statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), BSL-4 laboratories are installed in 45 locations across 19 countries worldwide, and South Korea also has a laboratory under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Many countries established virus research institutes after the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014.

Interior view of the National Biosafety Laboratory in Wuhan, China [Image source=U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website/www.cdc.gov]

The Washington Post (WP) reported on January 29 (local time) about conspiracy theories claiming that the novel coronavirus leaked during China’s biological weapons development process, citing experts who denied these theories. Richard Ebright, a professor of biochemistry at Rutgers University, said, "There is no evidence to suggest that the virus’s genome and characteristics were deliberately engineered by humans," and Elsa Kania, a researcher at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), pointed out, "Biological weapons are supposed to be effective only in targeted areas, but the novel coronavirus has spread widely not only in China but worldwide." In other words, there is no evidence that the novel coronavirus itself was developed as a biological weapon.

Moreover, there are no known cases of successfully weaponizing artificially created mutant viruses as biological weapons. Viruses are often portrayed as biological weapons in sci-fi movies or dramas, but in reality, using viruses as biological weapons in modern warfare is quite challenging. The reason it is difficult to weaponize bacteria or viruses is that viruses artificially created and stored tend to die quickly when exposed to ambient air after being dispersed.

The reason biological weapons reportedly used by terrorist groups are limited to anthrax is that anthrax spores are easy to disperse and do not easily die at ambient temperature immediately after spreading. Furthermore, if a mutant virus were to leak during development, the situation could become uncontrollable, so it is said that developing nuclear weapons is easier than uncontrollable bacterial and viral biological weapons. The cost is also astronomically high, making it less cost-effective as a weapon.

There have been stories that the former Soviet Union secretly attempted to develop Ebola virus as a biological weapon. This was widely covered by foreign media such as the Washington Post in October 2014. The Soviet Union researched it for 35 years but faced difficulties in control, with researchers repeatedly infected and dying. Even when mutant viruses were developed, they all quickly perished at ambient temperature, leading to the conclusion that they were unsuitable as weapons or terrorist means, and the plan was reportedly abandoned.

The Black Death was a terrifying epidemic in 14th century Europe that caused over 30 million deaths, but it is now known as a disease that can be easily treated if detected early, thanks to the availability of treatments. [Image source=U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website/www.cdc.gov]

Nevertheless, conspiracy theories persist because stories of successful biological warfare in pre-modern wars still create great fear. The most famous case is the Black Death, which killed more than 30 million people in Europe. The Black Death is known to have spread in 1346 when the Italian city-state of Genoa was fighting the Mongol army at the fortress of Caffa, a key port on the Black Sea coast. The Mongol army reportedly catapulted corpses of those who died from the Black Death into the fortress, causing the plague to spread widely in Caffa. Survivors then returned to Italy and spread the Black Death, for which there was no known treatment in Europe at the time, resulting in over 30 million deaths in just two years.

Another case is when the Spanish conquistador Hern?n Cort?s destroyed the Aztec Empire in Mexico in 1518 by spreading smallpox. The Spanish army, numbering only about 1,000, was able to achieve a decisive victory because the indigenous peoples of the Americas had no immunity to smallpox. After migrating from Asia to the Americas during the Ice Age 20,000 years ago, smallpox antibodies were lost, and since there were no similar infectious diseases in the Americas, no treatments existed.

However, even those terrifying diseases like the Black Death and smallpox have now become diseases for which treatments have been developed and can be easily treated if detected early. In a way, the shock and fear conveyed to citizens by various conspiracy theories about biochemical weapons might be the greatest power that virus weapons possess.