The Development Of Insects As Biological Weapons In America Remains Shrouded In Mystery To This Day
Many other insect-related blogs have described how insects have been used as weapons of war throughout human history. The use of insects as weapons of warfare has been in practice for thousands of years, so it must be pretty effective. Given the high fatality rate that results just from mosquito bites alone, it may not be hard to believe that certain insect species make for great weapons of mass destruction. Although the topic of insects as a form of biological weaponry has been discussed to death in other blog posts, not many articles exist online that describe the precise role of the American government when it comes to research on insects as unconventional weapons of warfare. Although it may be hard to believe, but the American Government has been experimenting with insects in the battlefield ever since the Civil War. However, America was not the first nation to start a program dedicated to the research and development of insects as weapons of war.
During the Civil War, it was alleged that the Union Army infected southern crops with the harlequin bug, which is a destructive crop pest. However, it was later found that the bug probably migrated to the southern states from Mexico, but its migration may have been facilitated by humans. During the 1930’s, Great Britain received reports that Hitler’s Third Reich would soon establish an entomological warfare program. In response to these reports, the British Government wasted no time establishing their own entomological warfare program in 1934, which became the first program of its kind in history. Soon afterward, as the US was preparing for war, the first American entomological warfare program was started by the government. As the nation mobilized for war, the program recruited 4,000 employees to conduct research on the effective use on insects in warfare. Before World War Two ended, the US had spent over 45 million dollars on research into insects as weapons of war.
Do you think that research into entomological warfare is still going on today in America?
