november 1970 military review article on ethnic weapons, race specific biological weapons

8/12/2019 November 1970 Military Review Article on Ethnic Weapons, Race Specific Biological Weapons

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excerpt from Military Review November 1970 - Ethnic Weapons article: Race Specific Biological Weapons



ETHNICWEAPONSCarl A Larson

A NEW generation of chemicalweapons seems to be growing

out of information collected and in-terpreted in research centers in bothEast and West. So far chemicalagents have been considered effectivemainly against tactical targets oflimited area. Even if this view maystill be maintained a new edge canbe honed to an already formidableweapon. Forthcoming chemical agentswith selective manstopping power willput into the hands of an assailant aweapon with which he cannot be at-tacked.

At the bottom of this new reasoninglies a careful exploration of the reac-tion of individual soldiers to chemicalagents. Tactical consequences of thewide variation of such reactions in-volve both target analysis and the

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selection of personnel for special mis-sions.

With or without expoSUre to toxicproducts most molecules of the humanorganism keep to their ordinary tasksof maintaining structure. A fairlygreat number of molecules are heldin reserve against predicted needsbut a fatal chaos would result i f toomany molecules were ready to reactwith each other. Our energy require-ments are satisfied by the transforma-tion of molecules capable of releasingenergy into other molecules with aless energy content. But every trans-formation whether i t takes place n

a gun chamber or in a muscle callsfor the supply of activation energy.

High pressure and temperature arenot compatible with vital functions.As in all other living organisms our

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molecules are kept arrayed until par-ticular trigger mechanisms lower theactivation energies of chemical reactions. These carefully safeguarded

procedures for alerting molecules areextremely selective and they dependon the activities of enzymes.

Such catalysts of living organismshave attracted an increasing interestand new methods for the study of enzymes have accumulated some imposing and mostly new facts. One wayto knowledge about the ladders of

chemical reactions furthered at eachstep by a special enzyme is to studywhat happens when one enzymaticstep is blocked. Material for suchstudies is provided by nature and byartificial inactivation of particular enzymes intentional and accidental.

Catalase ActivityThe immense laboratory of human

natural variation provides many instances of sharp differences in theactivities of well-defined enzymes.Catalase belongs to this category. Itstask is to split hydrogen peroxide Hz0. setting free oxygen. Today hydrogen peroxide may be better knownas a rocket propellant than as a disinfectant. If used in the latter capacitydiluted peroxide foams when broughtinto contact with blood or a freshscratch in the skin. Without catalasethere is no foam. We need the enzymeto inactivate hydrogen peroxide generated by bacteria trying to invade thegums through minute injuries.

arl A Larson heads the Depart-ment of Human Genetics at the Insti-tute of Genetic8 University of LundSweden. He holds a Licentiate degreefrom the Medical School of LundUniversity and i8 a licensed physician.Dr. Larson has published researchwork and popularized science in Amer-ican and European periodicals.

In the early fifties several Japanese families were observed wheresome members lacked catalase activity.Their blood produced no gas when in

contact with hydrogen peroxide andthey had more or less severe ulceration of the gums with loss of teeth.This enzyme defect is rare and itfollows a simple mode of inheritancewith the parents of patients havinga normal or practically normal catalase activity. The changed gene responsible for lack of catalase is not

confined to east Asian populations aswas once suspected.Scores of enzyme failures due to

gene mutations have now becomeknown. Many of them cause earlydeath or severe mental retardation.Sometimes a dietary adjustment suffices to overcome tJ; e consequencesof enzymatic ineptitUde. The study

of such heritable disturbances hasincluded their p r e v l e ~ c ein differentgeographic regions.

Basic PatternAlthough some outstanding ine

qualities between widely separatedethnic groups have been registereddetrimental genes are as a rule rareall over. Significant is the basic pattern repeating itself in scores ofenzymatic failures of a changed genecausing a distinct enzyme block. t

does so alone or together with itssimilarly changed partner gene carrying its false message unaltered fromgeneration to generation.

Besides these experiments by nature revealing the existence of anenzyme and its determining gene byreplacing the gene with an inert imitation information about enzymes hasbeen obtained from the study of theirinhibitors. Chains of vital processesin the human body concerned withenergy provision and material replace-

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A m i NHJ Featuf A

Enzyme inhibitors could tum these troops into a state of paralysis

ment can be broken at will. For practical purposes the effect of a specificenzyme inhibitor is a disturbed function that can be seen or measured withspecial methods. In effect a supplypoint has been demolished.

For widely varying purposes enzyme inhibitors have long been systematically studied. Their principalmodes of operation have been tracedand their practical use includes agentswith antibacterial and antitumor activity. The systematic search for enzyme inhibitors useful as insecticidesbegan in Leverkusen in the Rhine

Province in the thirties. Insects havesolved their internal supply problemsmuch in the same way as the gar-dener or farmer who tries to survivehis bug fauna but there are differences in susceptibility to enzyme inhibitors. In 1937 the Leverkusen lab-

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oratories could however report a series of organophosphorous compoundsthat killed the gardener as well as hisbeetles.

Keeping quiet about these reportsthe Wehrmacht began large-scale pro

duction in Dyhernfurth in Silesia ofwhat was code-named Trilon. Thiswas in April 1942. By 1945 some12 000 tons had been produced oftabun or GA Thus began the massproduction and stockpiling of the so-called nerve gases.

Such highly toxic enzyme inhibitors demonstrate quite convincingly

the need for an orderly mobilizationof molecules for a given mission inthis case signal transmission. Toomuch or too little too early or toolate means chaotic performance byactivated molecules.

When the brain orders a muscle to

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shorten the signal is dispatched viaa nerve which triggers numerousmuscle fibers. This is done throughthe transcription of the nerve signalto a chemical message acetylcholinebeing released t the endings of nervefibers. As long as the flow of impulses

mediate result is a persistent muscular contraction a st te of crampfollowed by paralysis. And this is exactly wh t happens when the criticalesterase called acetylcholinesterasebecomes inhibited by a G-type phosphorous compound. When the block

Ann. N ~ t D eatures

Face masks provide protection from a variety of agents but a minute droplet of VE orVX passing rapidly through the skin can be fatal

travels through the nerve acetylcho- between nerve and muscle affects theline is discharged and the muscle re- limbs the result is temporary inabilitymains contracted. What happens when of service. But muscles of respirationthe muscle gets word to suspend ac- are also involved with death followtion is not only th t the tr nsmitter ing exposure to relatively small quansubstance acetylcholine 8toIls being tities. Thus GA can kill in concenset free but the chemical signal be- trations of 4 milligrams per cubiccomes muted and acetylcholine is im- meter of ir during 1 minutes of

mediately broken up into inactive com- exposure through inhalation. How-pounds. This vital t sk is fulfilled by ever GB and GD have a lethal con- n esterase a specialized enzyme. centration of only 1 milligrams under

Without normal activity of this the same conditions.esterase acetylcholine remains t the A further development of the Gnerve fiber endings. The command to series of chemical agents is reprecease action does not arrive. The im- sented by the V anticholinesterases

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which are active after having passedthe skin. The G agents are also absorbed through unprotected skin butthey evaporate too fast for full effect.A minute droplet of VE or VX passing rapidiy through the skin into theblood circulation can kill a soldier.

Questions about the limitations ofchemic8 warfare have been raisedfrom time to time. The high toxicityof G and V-type enzyme inhibitorsand the possibility of using strategicmissiles with chemical warheads carrying well above four tons of payload have raised the discussion toanimated altitudes. With existing ordnance employed on a modest scale andwith only a fraction of the GB nowin stock the inhabitants of ParisOsaka or Los Angeles could be asphyxiated. But this does not draw thewhole picture.

Blocking gentsBy a peculiar coincidence an inbornvariability in the activity of cholinesterases has been observed. For variousmedicinal purposes drugs are used tointerrupt the transmission of thenerve impulse where i t reaches themuscle. One objective is relaxation ofthe abdominal wall so that surgical

manipulations can be carried outwithout resort to deep anesthesia.Blocking agents of the same type

are also used. to decrease muscularspasms in tetanus and to prevent mishaps in the electroshock treatment ofpsychiatric disorders. One widely usedblocking agent derives from curarethe South American arrow poison.

Another is suxamethonium which cutsthe nerve-muscle signal by interferingwith the shifting of electrons at thecritical junction.

The therapeutic effect aimed atshould vanish with the need for relaxation but in some patients suxa-

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methonium caused unexpectedly longlaming of muscles and dangerousstandstill of respiration. While curarewas at an earlier stage of its medicaluse the carefully guarded secret oftribal witch doctors nothing in thatway entered modern anesthesiology.The relaxant was right; the patientwas unfit. The untoward reaction wasbrought about by a weak or absentcholinesterase activity.

Persons with this potentially fatalweakness are in excellent health aslong as they are not exposed to suxamethonium. The deficient enzyme differs in some respects from the cholinesterase handling acetylcholine. t isproduced by the directives of achanged gene and the fault appearsin consecutive generations.

Human VariationsSuch chance findings of heritable

differences inevitably attract the at-tention of people who study the distribution of different genes in humanpopulations. The esterase differenceshave been studied in detail with theaid of specific enzyme inhibitors. Inessence their inheritance follows wellknown Mendelian patterns. A personwho has the usual gene on both of

two ordinary chromosomes is endowedwith a lOO-percent esterase activity;the atypical gene on the same site ofboth chromosomes renders only 50percent enzyme activity. f two suchpersons start a family their childrenwill each have one usual and oneatypical gene and 75-percent enzymeactivity.

Close to four percent of the normalpeople in Canada and Britain carrythe atypical gene with the resultingreduced esterase activity. Similar proportions of 75 percenters have beenobserved in non-European populations.

t is quite possible that the atypical



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gene and a third gene causing induplicate zero esterase activity willfinally be found to have about thesame distribution in geographicallywidely separated populations.

But this is only a stray observationfitting into a repeatedly confirmedpattern of human variation. n briefhuman populations can be characterized by frequencies of distinct genes.Sometimes; gene frequencies agreefairly we between widely dispersedpopulations but more often there aregreat differences. This view differsfrom the concept of typification established in physical anthropology untilmathematical models and the observation of simply inherited normaltraits made the study of gene frequencies meaningful.

iochemical DifferencesWith World War I came the first

impetus to the new approach bloodgroup frequencies in Allied armiesbeing found to vary considerablyamong personnel of different geographic origin. Next blood groupswere used to map the world population. n central Asia the B-gene frequency comes near 30 percent; inAmerican Indians this gene is originally absent. When new blood groupsystems were discovered EUropeanAsian and African populations couldbe characterized by a number of independently varying gene frequencies.

Widely used in such studies ofhuman populations is the ability totaste diluted solutions of phenylthiourea. Persons who carry a variantof the taster gene on both of thecritical chromosomes are nontasters.

f somebody were to dissolve a sufficient amount of phenylthiourea inthe drinking water in Mahar India54 percent of all water drinkers wouldcomplain of the bitter taste. Among

Brazilian Indians an identical experiment would make little more than onepercent aware of the admixture.

Several other biochemical differences between human beings havebeen studied with an increasing awareness that some of these differencesmay be adaptive. When a simply inherited variant of the red coloringmatter of blood practically absent inEurope was observed to be commonin a broad belt across central Africai t was brought into relation with thehigh incidence of malaria in theseregions.

Carriers of the changed gene havean increased chance of becominggrandparents in spite of the highmortality among their children wherethe abnormal gene in the duplex stateis a merciless killer. The cause is thegreater resistance to malaria grantedby a single gene for the deviant pigment. n the Mediterranean regionsimilar situations include other variants of blood pigment and also anenzyme defect significantly commonin old malaria regions.

Enzymatic Reactionsn the present decade knowledge

about enzyme polymorphisms has accumulated. f a deviant gene is toocommon in a given population to remain prevalent only through newmutations i t has a polymorphic distribution. More often than not theselective forces balancing such relatively high frequencies of a substandard gene are completely unknown. Thechance observation of a reaction toa certain drug is obviously just theshadow on the wall. The real itemhas to be searched for among entangled molecular supply lines in theliving organism. Clearly a relativeadvantage in one environment grantedcarriers of a mutant gene can be

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entirely void in another environment.But the decisive environmentsl factors of selection can hardly be suxamethonium drugs sulfonamides or

BZ-type chemical agents.Careful analyses of enzymatic reaction patterns to a series of drugsare underway and we may soon havea grid where new observations of thiskind can be pinpointed. One set ofreference lines in this grid goes fromgenes necessary for enzyme production. Another set of lines marks sub

stances turning on and off the makingof active enzymes which can but neednot be alerted.

Recently a series of widely debatedobservations have revealed an enzymedeficiency in southeastern Asian populations making them susceptible to

a poison to which Caucasoids arelargely adapted. In such situationsthe sketchy grid just mentioned isof some use. One looks for the possi

bility of the poison-provoking enzymeproduction an individual adaptationobserved in several instances.

The poison now at issue is milk. InEuropeans intolerance to lactose ormilk sugar occurs as a rare recessivetrait Healthy parents each carryinga single mutant gene have childrenapproximately one-fourth of whom

react to milk ingestion with diarrheavomiting malabsorption and evendeath. When reports on milk intolerance in various groups of non-European began to accumulate i t was remembered that malnourished childrenin east Africa got diarrhea when

Innate differences in vulnerability to chemical agents between different populationshave led to the possible development of ethnic weapons

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chemicals enters the scene. Exposureto drugs or to molecules of almostidentical composition is known to produce with varying degrees of -

curacy resistance tothe

toxic effectat repeated exposure. As this is aknown and thoroughly discussed procedure concealment of large-scalepreparations of this type probablywould be difficult if not wholly impossible.

Another prospect may tempt an aggressor who knows he can recruitfrom a population largely tolerantagainst an incapacitating agent towhich the target popUlation is susceptible. An innate immunity wouldoffer concealment of preparationsand obvious advantages in many tactical situations. When the properchemical agent is used against intermingled friendly and enemy unitsc s u l t i ~ smay occur in proportionsone to 10.

Such inferences are barely extrapolations of observed genetic differences between major human populations and of research programs knownto be in progress. Widely differentopinions have been ventured as tothe type of chemical operations likelyto be directed against military personnel and the civilian population ina future war. There have been somerecent tendencies to stress the widelatitude between incapacitating andthe lethal action of BZ-type agents.Friendly troops could use them todampen belligerence. They effectivelyslow down physical and mental activity make the poisoned personnelgiddy disoriented and more or lessunable or unwilling to carry out commands.

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Friendly forces would discriminatingly use incapacitants in entangledsituations to give friend and foe ashort period of enforced rest to sort

them out. By gentle persuasion aidedby psychochemicals civilians in enemy cities could be reeducated. Theadversary would use incapacitants tospare those whom he could use forslaves. There is little that humanbiology can contribute to prognoses ofthat type.

The factual basis of abundant en

zyme inhibitors of widely differenttypes can be neglected as little asmodern methods for their distribution. They need not be gases in atrue sense. Well-studied enzymes represent a small proportion of the totalnumber of catalysts necessary for ourvital processes. When new enzymevarieties are discovered some of them

are likely to overstep the prevalencelimits so far observed both high andlow in different populations.

ut the production of enzymes inthe living cell could not be selectivelyquenched until details of early signaltransmission from the gene becameknown in 1969. During the first halfof that year several laboratories reported factors engaged in passing overthe genic message from DNA theprimary command post to RNA whichrelays the chemical signal. The enzymatic process for RNA productionhas been known for some years butnow the factors have been revealedwhich regulate the initiation andspecificity of enzyme production. Notonly the factors have been found buttheir inhibitors. Thus the functionsof life lie bare to attack.

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november 1970 military review article on ethnic weapons, race specific biological weapons

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