Such conclusions reflect misperceptions and misdirection in the approaches taken and do not preclude the possibility of protecting buildings in a cost-effective manner. This article offers engineers new perspectives by reviewing how effective existing technologies can be in biodefense applications.
Several incidents in the United States alone have highlighted the potential threat of bioweapons. In 1984 a religious extremist group in Oregon disseminated Salmonella in supermarkets using hand-held sprayers. In 1991, right-wing extremists in Minnesota developed the deadly toxin ricin. In 1998, a white supremacist associated with the group Christian Identity was caught ordering anthrax, after successfully obtaining plague bacilli. The perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax mailings has yet to be apprehended.