An Overview of Biological Warfare and SARS-CoV-2 as a Potential Biological Agent

Abstract

The conflict between humans did not stop throughout the ages, and humans have used everything in nature to serve this conflict since the first ages of history, during the First World War when the world witnessed the actual use of chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons during World War II By the United States of America against Japan, which greatly developed a biological warfare program before and during World War II, and a lot of information regarding this program was withheld by an agreement between Japan and the USA after Japan’s defeat in the war. Finally, the countries of the world succeeded in signing a Biological Warfare Convention (BWC) in 1972, and the Ninth Review Conference will be held for this convention during 2021 to discuss its articles and try to develop its mechanisms to prevent the development and use of biological weapons in the conflict between nations. According to the British novelist George Orwell, “Life is a race between education and catastrophe”. As the great development in the field of genetic technologies and the production of vaccines collided with the emergence of new pathogens, the latest of which is the emerging SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, and once again the major countries have been accused by each other of spreading this virus in the world intentionally or by accident. We must carefully examine these allegations before making decisions, because these allegations may have negative repercussions on the future of humanity. Key words: biological, warfare, weapons, BWC, genetic engineering, COVID-19 pandemic