Ricin and anthrax are in a class of deadly weapons preceded millennia ago by the first recorded use of this type of warfare by people who rammed each other with these. What were these weapons?

queproblema

Infected rams and donkeys were the earliest bioweapons, according to a new study that dates the use of biological warfare back more than 3300 years. According to a review published in the journal Medical Hypotheses, two ancient populations, the Arzawans and the Hittites, engaged "in mutual use of contaminated animals" during the 1320-1318 BC Anatolian war. "The animals were carriers of Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularaemia," says Dr Siro Trevisanato, a molecular biologist based in Ontario, Canada. Cut-and-paste from" http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/12/03/2108080.htm?site=science&topic=latest Jan 15 09, 10:33 PM

edmund80

Correct. Also, the intent to infect the enemy is apparently important to the definition of biological warfare and this is not yet clear cut with regards the Hittites and their battle against the Arzawans. "Experts caution that more evidence is needed to firmly establish that the Hittites intended to spread disease using the animals. But they add that if this proves true, it might represent the earliest known use of biological warfare....Still, in order to consider the rams as a true biological weapon, evidence is needed to clearly prove that the Hittites understood the full ramifications of these animals towards their enemies, says Mark Wheelis, at the University of California, Davis. The intent would have to be not to just freak the enemy out, but to actually transmit disease," he explains. Until such intent to spread disease is proven beyond a doubt, Wheelis says any theory is speculative." http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12960-were-cursed-rams-the-first-biological-weapons-.html http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/tularemia/faq.asp Jan 16 09, 5:20 PM