Biochemical engineering as a way of obtaining toxins that can be used as weapons of mass destruction

Abstract

The Biological Weapons Convention from 1972 includes toxins as biological weapons, but biological agents include living organisms that can grow and multiply, while the toxins cannot. Toxins are toxic products of biological organisms, often very complex chemical structures which are classified into chemical weapons. Many countries are signatories to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which was put into effect in April 1997, but it is believed that further studies have continued, aimed at the synthesis of new toxins as agents. The rapid development of genetic engineering and biotechnology erased the strict boundary between chemical and biological weapons. Genetic engineering is possible with the bacterial or viral DNA incorporated properly in order to obtain, in sufficient quantity, toxic proteins that are difficult to synthesize given the procedures of chemical synthesis. Many toxins obtained in this way are several times more potent than the nerve poison gas, so that the full effect is achieved with small amounts of so altered bacteria or viruses. The effect of toxins on living organisms depends on the type of toxin, the dose, and the time of entry into the body.