The Hazards in Bioterror Plays

Certainly, the biochemical warfare scare will bring billions of dollars to biochemical, pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturers over the coming years.

But that doesn't mean all of them will be good investments. Which companies benefit, of course, depends on what kind of infectious diseases or toxins the terrorists try to use. Anthrax is only one possible scenario.

Other possibilities include outbreaks of E.coli, dengue fever or tuberculosis. The first large-scale use of biochemical warfare by terrorists in the U.S. was an outbreak of salmonella in Oregon salad bars in 1984, according to Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, a new book written by Judith Miller, The New York Times bioterrorism expert who last Friday opened a letter suspected of containing anthrax, but which tested negative. In another example, terrorists killed 12 people and injured hundreds of others by releasing nerve gas in a Tokyo subway in 1995. ...