Legal Definitions - biological warfare

Biological warfare refers to the deliberate use of biological agents, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, or toxins produced by living organisms, as weapons to cause disease, death, or incapacitation in humans, animals, or plants. The objective is typically to achieve military or political goals by disrupting an enemy's population, food supply, economy, or military capabilities.

Here are some examples illustrating biological warfare:

• Scenario: A hostile nation develops a genetically modified fungus designed to specifically target and destroy a rival country's primary grain crops, such as wheat or rice. They then covertly release spores of this fungus into the rival nation's agricultural heartland, leading to widespread crop failure and famine.

  Explanation: This constitutes biological warfare because a biological agent (the modified fungus) is intentionally used as a weapon to cause disease (crop blight) in plants, aiming to cripple the adversary's food security and economy.

• Scenario: A rogue terrorist group acquires a weaponized strain of a highly contagious and lethal virus, such as a modified form of smallpox. They plan to disseminate this virus in a major international airport, intending to cause a global pandemic, widespread panic, and mass casualties among the civilian population.

  Explanation: This is an act of biological warfare because it involves the deliberate deployment of a biological agent (the weaponized virus) to inflict disease and death upon human populations, with the aim of creating terror and societal disruption.

• Scenario: During a period of heightened international tension, one country's military intelligence unit secretly introduces a highly virulent strain of African Swine Fever into the pig farms of an opposing nation. The goal is to decimate the adversary's livestock industry, disrupt their food supply chain, and create economic instability.

  Explanation: This exemplifies biological warfare as it involves the covert use of a biological agent (the swine fever virus) as a weapon to cause disease and death in animals (pigs), with the strategic objective of undermining the adversary's economic and food resources.