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Anthrax———35

Offensive, shot and killed Pim Fortuyn, a right-wing Herbivores take in anthrax spores from the soil as
prime minister hopeful, allegedly over Fortuyn’s plan they graze. The spores then germinate into bacteria
to lift restrictions on fur farming if elected. Van der and multiply within the animal. In the final stages of
Graaf can be seen as part of a new breed of animal the disease, bacteria released from the body in blood
rights activists, which draws strength and community and other fluids form spores that can remain dormant
from other like-minded movements, such as environ- in the soil for decades. Anthrax spores are very hardy
mentalism, feminism, and antiglobalization. and can withstand drying, heat, and cold.
Anthrax is not contagious. Cutaneous, or skin,
See also ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT; RODNEY CORONADO;
anthrax is the most common and most treatable form
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
of the disease; 95 percent of all human cases are
Further Reading cutaneous, occurring when spores contaminate a skin
abrasion. The incubation period varies from a couple
Kistler, John M. Animal Rights: A Subject Guide, of days to up to six weeks after exposure. After contami-
Bibliography, and Internet Companion. Westport, CT. nation, a lesion quickly appears that is covered
Greenwood, 2000. by a black scab within days. This black scab gives
Lutherer, Lorenz Otto, and Margaret Sheffield Simon. anthrax, which is derived from the Greek word for
Targeted: The Anatomy of an Animal Rights Attack.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. coal, its name. Most cases of skin anthrax do not
Newkirk, Ingrid. Free the Animals! The Untold Story of the become systemic infections. More serious is gastro-
U.S. Animal Liberation Front & Its Founder, “Valerie.” intestinal anthrax, which results from eating the meat
Chicago: Noble, 1992. of infected animals. Inhalation anthrax, the rarest and
Rudacille, Deborah. The Scalpel and the Butterfly: The War most deadly form, was believed—before 2001—to be
Between Animal Research and Animal Protection. almost invariably fatal. Symptoms in the first stage of
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000. inhalation anthrax may resemble flu or a stomach
Ryder, Richard D. Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes virus. The bacteria multiply first in the lymph nodes,
Toward Speciesism. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2000. particularly in the mediastinal and peribronchial
Scarce, Rik. Eco-warriors: Understanding the Radical nodes, creating characteristic images on chest X rays.
Environmental Movement. Chicago: Noble, 1990. In the second stage of the disease, high concentrations
Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. 1975. New rev. ed. of bacteria and toxins are found in the blood. The
New York: Avon Books, 1991.
resulting shock and organ failure cause death.
Natural outbreaks of human anthrax may follow
ANO. See ABU NIDAL ORGANIZATION. epidemics among livestock. In Zimbabwe, between
1979 and 1985 more than 100,000 cases of human
anthrax (mostly cutaneous) were seen during an
animal epidemic. Historically, anthrax in the United
ANTHRAX States was associated with the wool and skin indus-
tries. From 1900 to 2000, the United States had 18
Anthrax is caused by the bacteria Bacillus cases of inhalation anthrax, the latest in 1978. The
anthracis, which is usually seen in herbivores, rarely death rate was over 85 percent.
in humans. If left untreated, infection can be fatal.
Anthrax is an attractive biological weapon because of ANTHRAX AS A WEAPON
the relative ease with which it can be grown, the
lethality of the inhaled form of the disease, and the Japan, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union,
hardiness of its spores. and Iraq are all known to have developed weapons
Anthrax is the oldest known animal disease, using anthrax. During and following World War II,
familiar to farmers from the ancient Greeks to today. the United States developed anthrax weapons, but
Few countries are completely free of anthrax. The became more interested in organisms that would
United States has sporadic outbreaks among livestock incapacitate rather than kill. Great Britain exploded
and wild animals. The disease is controlled in animals an anthrax bomb on Gruinard Island off Scotland in
by vaccination. Louis Pasteur developed the vaccine 1942. The contaminated island was unusable until
in 1881. clean-up work was completed a half century later. In