Botulinum Toxins are in-fact the most toxic substances known, and for this reason was among the first considered for use in Biochemical weaponry. A gram of such a toxin is estimated to be capable of killing 200,000 mice. Even more startling, a single cup of this substance in its pure form is estimated to be capable of depopulating the Earth!
Above: Fragile life on Earth!?
A great deal of time was spent during and after the Second World War by both the allied and German scientists, to find a method of converting Botulinum Toxin to weapon form.
Whilst both of these former enemies have long since forgotten the idea of using these toxins for warfare, concerns still remain over the threat from other organizations, namely terrorists. The world was given a warning in Japan in 1995 when a doomsday cult killed 12 people and injured 6,000 others during a Sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system using aerosols. Some countries are known to have developed Botulinum Toxins in aerosol form, which if used would be far more devastating than Sarin gas.
To the best of all knowledge,
most of the research in this controversial field now focuses on the development
of effective, cheap vaccines to combat the threat posed by Biochemical weapons.
Above: Projectiles containing lethal toxins, it is hoped that no similar weapons will ever be used.
Special facilities such as the 27 acre Tooele facility in Utah
now exist to dispose of Biochemical weapons such as the projectiles shown
above. Such projectiles would normally be those confiscated from 'unstable'
nations such as Iraq.