A member of Brazil's military medical unit attends a drill simulating a biological or nuclear attack on Rio de Janeiro. Other than the "anthrax in the mail" attacks that followed Sept 11, killing five people, there have been few serious attempts at biological attacks in recent years. Regulations on biological and genetic research vary widely between countries -- but making weapons with such techniques is largely illegal under the 1975 Biological Weapons Convention. A report last year from the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point concluded Islamic State, too, was keen to acquire biological weapons. But it concluded that the IS remained "extremely unlikely" to acquire the capability to mount a mass casualty attack using biological weapons.

Source: Bangkok Post April 20, 2017 21:33 UTC