Lindsey French of the Department of Health confirms that people may keep lethal pathogens at home. But she says that threats to do harm with those pathogens, transporting or storing them improperly, or obtaining them by fraud or theft, are illegal. Not that would-be terrorists need obtain their pathogens through official channels. If you know where to look, many can be isolated from the wild. The scenario changes with the agent used,'' says Philip Russell, former commander of the US Army Medical Research and Development Command in Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Plague is different from smallpox, which is different from anthrax.
For example, he says, plans are needed to ensure that large amounts of antibiotics, and properly trained and equipped people, can be rushed to the scene. At the moment, although these agencies have adequate plans to cope with floods, earthquakes, and the occasional car bomb, OEP head Frank Young told a Senate hearing on 1 November 1995, 'there is no coordinated public health infrastructure to deal with the medical consequences of terrorism'. This is not to say there are no plans at all. But at the most recent Senate terrorism hearing, on 27 March, several key witnesses, among them P. Lamont Ewell, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, questioned whether the new plans were adequate and whether they had been sufficiently well rehearsed to cope with a real attack. In Britain, the Home Office takes ultimate responsibility for preventing bioterrorism and for preparing to deal with its aftermath.