An expert panel warns that botulinum toxin poses a major biological weapons threat to the public.
Botulinum toxin is the cause of the disease called botulism.
The Working Group on Civilian Biodefense, a panel convened by the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, recommends medical and public health guidelines and policies to minimize the consequences from an attack. The report's principal authors, Steven Arnon, M.D., and Robert Schechter, M.D., of the Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program of the California Department of Health, worked to complete the analysis with a team of 23 national experts, which included six Johns Hopkins University faculty members. Thomas Inglesby, M.D., a researcher with the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies and assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, served as the project's leader at Johns Hopkins. Botulinum toxin is a serious threat as a weapon, because it is extremely lethal and easy to produce. Botulinum toxin comes from the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, which grows in soil.