In Brief... World News Review: Killer Germs for Sale
Tighter control needed for biological agents.
The special insight team of reporters for the well-respected Sunday Times has uncovered a number of laboratories around the world willing to sell or export highly lethal biological agents capable of killing thousands of people in one go for a mere $1,000. Posing as representatives for a medical lab in Africa, these undercover men were offered samples of anthrax and brucella by a lab in Indonesia.
This Asian plant made no check on their identities or even asked how these lethal products might be used. No questions asked! Another group of Sunday Times reporters were offered lethal botulinum bacteria by another plant in the Czech Republic. These two labs-one in Eastern Europe and one in the Far East-are among about 450 germ collectors globally. Some 50 offer anthrax; about 35 trade in the deadly botulinum bacteria, and so on.
Undercover British reporters contacted about 20 of these plants pretty much at random, including three in Mexico, Brazil and China. These latter ones did ask for an export license before approving the sale.
Microscopic amounts of these germs can kill hundreds at once if either inhaled or consumed in contaminated food products. Rogue countries such as North Korea and Iraq, along with various terrorist cells scattered throughout the world, are suspected of buying and storing these incredibly lethal biological agents. Several British politicians are, therefore, currently clamoring for much tighter international controls.
One particular feature article concluded with these words: "The CIA has warned that biological and chemical weapons represent the most urgent long-term threat to the West. There are fears that anyone with a basic scientific knowledge and a backroom laboratory could use the bugs to make biological weapons." (The Sunday Times, 22 November 1998 (two feature articles))
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: December 1998
Course Content
David Palmer
Born in Saskatchewan Canada, David Palmer was first introduced to the radio broadcast of the World Tomorrow during his career in broadcasting, when the program was aired during his on air shift. In 1965 his radio career took him to Vancouver British Columbia, where he was eventually baptized, and began attending Sabbath services. He was ordained to the ministry in 1983. Now retired from broadcasting David currently pastors congregations in Vancouver, and Vancouver Island. He is also a member of the UCG-Canada National Council, and serves on the Canadian Ministerial Services Team, as well as the Canadian Media Team
Fred Nance
Fred Nance is a pastor at the United Church of God and has a B.A. in History from Ambassador College. He is originally from Lansing Michigan having moved to Arkansas in September of 2009. His wife Lidia is originally from Argentina.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
