Syria’s cache of chemical weapons is believed to be the largest in the Middle East. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s stockpile of the nerve agent sarin stockpile “is estimated in the high hundreds of tons, possibly over 1,000 tons,” says Laicie Heeley, director of Middle East and defense policy at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation.
Foreign Policy Story on Syria’s Sarin Stockpile Quotes Laicie Heeley & James Lewis
Mideast weapons proliferation expert Laicie Heeley tells Foreign Policy that most estimates for the actual sarin stockpile hover around “the high hundreds of tons, possibly over 1,000.”
“Want to Hear Something Really Scary? Zombies Are Real” Or at Least Could Be
While zombies remain part of myth — we hope — the threat of human extinction from disease is very real.
Biological and Chemical Weapons
Even though the use of biological weapons was outlawed by the 1925 Geneva Protocol, leading nations around the world have pursued the development and stockpiling of biological weapons throughout the last century.
Huffington Post OpEd: Trust But Verify? Not This Time: For Biological Security, Transparency Is Best Policy
In the end, there is no magic wand that will bring us biosecurity. Every reasonable, cost-effective approach must be employed, from biodefense to international transparency to ethical education of scientists and involvement of the public.
