muninnhuginn | Bee Crap and Bio-Warfare

Interesting read here on the history of biological warfare. As ever mankind's ability to attempt to inflict horrors on our fellows went way back before we even understood the science. There's a chilling quote about the behaviour of researchers in the Soviet programme, Biopreparat:

"When virologist Nikolai Ustinov died after injecting himself with the deadly Marburg virus, his colleagues, with the mad logic and enthusiasm of bioweapon developers, re-isolated the virus from his body and found that it had mutated into a more virulent form than the one that Ustinov had used. "

And the bee pooh? From the paragraphs on the impact of the fear of attack by biological weaponry and the effects on international relations and reputations (regardless of the accuracy of any accusations) comes this:

"... the USA accused the Vietnamese of dropping fungal toxins on the US Hmong allies in Laos. However, it was found that the yellow rain associated with the reported variety of syndromes was simply bee faeces."

Nasty enough, we imagine, being shat on by bees, but not quite in the same league as being infected with some plague or other.

Grim and grisly reading.