Scientists condemn alarmist official propaganda over bioterrorism

Fears of a terrorist attack using biological or chemical weapons are being overplayed, say senior scientists who believe that the resulting panic is potentially worse than the threat itself.

The scientists dismissed the notion that anthrax, ricin and nerve agents can cause mass deaths and even ridiculed smallpox – one of the most feared infectious diseases – as a "plodding" virus, unable to spread rapidly through a population. A panel of leading specialists, including Professor Brian Duerden, director of the Department of Health's Public Health Laboratory Service, said yesterday that exaggerated claims of the risk posed by bioterrorism could do more harm than good by creating a climate of hysteria.

Speaking at a press briefing at the Science Media Centre in London, the scientists said they wanted to correct the impression the use of biological and chemical weapons by terrorists would inevitably kill thousands or tens of thousands of people.

John Oxford, professor of virology at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, said he disagreed with recent reports from the United States suggesting a smallpox outbreak started by terrorists could kill up to a million Americans.

"I'm not saying they are wrong, it's just it's not the virus that I recognise.

"Smallpox is a plodder, it is not a sure-footed, fast-moving virus such as measles or flu," he said.

Some scientists believe smallpox is easily transmitted through the air but Professor Oxford claimed you would virtually have to dance with an infected person to be close enough to be put at serious risk. In any case, many people would be immune either naturally or from an old immunisation."In terms of infectious diseases, people need to concentrate on the great natural enemies such as TB and HIV. You have to keep your eye on the ball and the ball is these diseases," Professor Oxford said.

Professor Duerden said that although the concern over a bioterrorist outrage was genuine, the actual risks from, for example, an anthrax attack had been greatly exaggerated. "It was never a devastating plague because it cannot pass from person to person," he said.

Britain had a good network of doctors and specialists trained to deal with outbreaks of infectious diseases. That was the best defence against a terrorist attack, Professor Duerden said.

Steve Emmett, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, said the risk of an attack by terrorists using nerve agents had also been exaggerated because such poisons were difficult to disperse. "I think the risks are very low of doing a mass poisoning in any kind of environment," he said.

"When terrorists released the nerve agent sarin into the Tokyo underground in 1995, about 3,000 people were admitted to hospital but only 17 suffered severe effects, and 11 deaths, mostly among old people with respiratory problems," Dr Emmett said.